France's new ban on wearing full-face niqab veils in public

The Insert below is from News.com.au,

It highlights the start of what will surely be a harrowing battle of exacerbated proportions. Should we really discriminate against any religion? And is freedom of expression not at the root of this very debate? I agree that religion should not play part in education or the workplace but to bring law to the public and openly stop a sect of religion in a European nation from expressing their beliefs cannot be the way forward. I do not agree with a woman veiling herself but i do disagree with the government taking away a persons right to believe and express belief.


"PARIS police have arrested two veiled women and several other people protesting in front of Notre Dame cathedral against France's new ban on wearing full-face niqab veils in public.
An Agence France-Presse journalist at the scene said the arrests came after police moved in to break up the protest which had not been authorised.
"Today was not about arresting people because of wearing the veil. It was for not having respected the requirement to declare a demonstration," said police spokesman Alexis Marsan.
Two women in niqabs, a woman wearing an Islamic headscarf that does not cover the face and a demonstration organiser were arrested, Marsan said.
In another protest, Rachid Nekkaz from the Don't Touch My Constitution activist group and "a female friend wearing the niqab" were arrested by police in front of President Nicolas Sarkozy's Elysee Palace, he said."

The Daily Telegraph, 9 Dec 2010

"We wanted to be fined for wearing the niqab, but the police didn't want to issue a fine," Nekkaz said by telephone.
On Saturday police arrested 59 people, including 19 veiled women, who turned up for a banned protest in Paris against the new law, the first of its kind to be enforced in Europe.

Read more: http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/paris-police-arrest-veiled-women-after-ban/story-e6frfku0-1226037445886#ixzz1JDGediBU