France moves towards banning Muslim veil in public

PARIS (Reuters) - France is moving toward a ban on wearing face-covering Islamic veils in public, with the government set to examine a draft bill next month amid heated debate over women's rights and religious freedom.

Sarkozy believed that the full veil, commonly referred to as the burqa in France, "hurts the dignity of women and is not acceptable in French society," he told reporters.

The debate has spread as far as Afghanistan, where some women's rights activists expressed outrage at the French proposal, saying they disliked the burqa but women should be free to wear whatever they wanted.

France moves towards banning Muslim veil in public
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