France's 2004 ban on headscarves in schools and 2010 ban on full face veils in public have alienated many of its five million Muslims. Rioting broke out in a Paris suburb last month after police checked identity papers of a fully veiled woman.
"This is one more step in the legal stigmatization of Muslims," the March 15 Liberty Committee, a Muslim group opposed to the school headscarf ban, said on Tuesday.
"The separation of church and state cannot be reduced, as some want it to be, to an arsenal of laws against Muslims."
Several politicians also weighed in, warning a new ban could fan tensions between the Socialist government, which stands for a strong defense of France's official secularism, and Muslims who feel such laws are aimed at isolating and punishing them. [Reuters] Read more
