2023-09-05 13:44:00
Paris, France | French schools prevented dozens of young people from entering classrooms on Monday on the first day of school for refusing to remove the abaya, a garment worn by Muslim women that was recently banned, the education minister said Tuesday.
Defying the ban on wearing this full-body garment in schools, nearly 300 young people showed up at their schools on Monday morning wearing the garment, Gabriel Attal told broadcaster BFM.
Most of the students agreed to take off their tunics, but 67 refused to do so and were sent home, he explained.
The government announced last month that it was banning the abaya in schools, saying it violated rules on secularism in education, which already ban the Muslim headscarf.
The abaya covers the entire body, except for the face, hands and feet.
The ban was highlighted by the right-wing political class, but the left argued that it represented an affront to civil liberties.
The left has accused the government of centrist President Emmanuel Macron of competing with far-right Marine Le Pen with this measure, some nine months before the European elections.
A 2004 law prohibits “the use of signs or clothing by which students ostensibly display a religious affiliation” in schools.
This includes Christian crosses, the Jewish kippah, and Islamic headscarves.
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