Belgium Decides To Ban The Burqa
Photo: Yahoo! News
YAHOO! NEWS: Belgium is set to become the first ever country in Europe to ban the burqa from being worn in public places.

The vote in Parliament for a nationwide ban on Islamic clothes or veils that do not allow the wearer to be fully identified was almost unanimous.

The full-face niqab and burqa worn by some muslim women are not a mandatory requirement for the religion of Islam, but one of personal choice. >>> Sky News | Friday, April 30, 2010

Belgian MPs Vote to Ban the Burqa
THE TELEGRAPH: Belgium is set to become the first country in Europe to ban the burqa after the country's parliament voted on Thursday night to prohibit the wearing of the face-covering Islamic veil in public.

Not a single MP in the lower house of parliament voted against the ban on clothes or veils that do not allow the wearer to be fully identified, including full-face Muslim dress such as the niqab or burqa. There were two abstentions.

Supporters said the law would help fight terrorism and grant rights to Muslim women.

Daniel Bacquelaine, one of the liberal MPs who originally called for the ban, insisted the new law was "aimed at stopping people from not being identified".

"It's not about introducing any form of discrimination," he said.
The ban, which is thought to affect around 100 women, would be imposed in streets, public gardens and sports grounds or buildings "meant for public use or to provide services".

Those Muslims who ignore the ban could face fines of £22 and a jail sentence of up to seven days unless they have written police permission to wear the garments. >>> Bruno Waterfield in Brussels | Thursday, April 29. 2010

Les députés belges interdisent le port du voile intégral
LE FIGARO: Si le texte est également adopté par le Sénat, la Belgique sera le premier État européen à légiférer sur le sujet.

La Belgique, déchirée entre Flamands et francophones, serre les rangs contre la burqa. Dans un rare moment d'unanimité, la Chambre des représentants a voté jeudi soir l'interdiction totale du voile islamique intégral dans l'espace public, faisant du royaume le premier État européen à légiférer sur le sujet. La loi doit encore être adoptée par le Sénat.

L'image du pays est peut-être écornée mais «on peut être fier d'être belge aujourd'hui, a affirmé l'un des initiateurs de la loi, le député réformateur Denis Ducarme. Nous espérons être rapidement suivis par les Français, les Suisses, les Italiens et les Néerlandais». Le texte, qui devait être voté au pied levé en début de soirée, a survécu contre toute attente à la démission du gouvernement Leterme. >>> Par Jean-Jacques Mevel, Claire Gallen | Jeudi 29 Avril 2010

Erstes Burka-Verbot in Europa in Belgien verabschiedet: Parlament will Regelung für den gesamten öffentlichen Raum durchsetzen
NZZ ONLINE: Belgien hat als erstes europäisches Land ein Burka-Verbot auf den Weg gebracht. Das Parlament in Brüssel stimmte am Donnerstag mehrheitlich für das Verbot der Vollverschleierung von muslimischen Frauen, das an allen öffentlichen Orten gilt.

136 Abgeordnete stimmten für das Gesetz, zwei enthielten sich. Der Text verbietet «das Tragen jedes Kleidungsstücks, welches das Gesicht ganz oder hauptsächlich verhüllt».

Darunter fallen also die Burka, die ein Stoffgitter vor die Augen setzt, und der Nikab, bei dem ein Sehschlitz frei bleibt. Allerdings wird keines der Kleidungsstücke ausdrücklich genannt. Normale Kopftücher sind ohnehin nicht betroffen, Ausnahmen gibt es für Verkleidungen an Karneval oder für Schutzhelme.

Das Verbot gilt an Orten, die der Öffentlichkeit zugänglich sind. Darunter fallen nach Auskunft von Parlamentariern neben Strassen, Parks und öffentlichen Gebäuden auch Geschäfte und Restaurants. Würde eine Frau dort verschleiert angetroffen, drohen ihr Geldstrafen und/oder Haft von einem bis zu sieben Tagen. >>> sda/afp/dpa | Donnerstag, 29. April 2010

So When Will British Politicians Find Their Balls? Nicolas Sarkozy Ally 'Received Death Threats' Over Muslim Veil Ban
THE TELEGRAPH: A French conservative politician at the forefront of a campaign for a full ban on Islamic veils has been placed under police protection after reportedly receiving death threats.

Jean-François Copé, who leads the parliamentary group of President Nicolas Sarkozy's UMP party, has had a security officer accompanying him since January, it emerged on Friday.

Mr Copé submitted a proposed bill on banning the veil in public in January, on grounds of security and women's equality. On Wednesday, the government announced its intention to push through a full ban as early as this summer.

Mr Sarkozy, who has said that full veils oppress women, chose to defy France's highest administrative body, which says a full ban could be declared unconstitutional.

In a sign the French are already clamping down on the wearing of the garment, it emerged on Friday that a woman driver wearing an Islamic face veil had been fined 22 euros (£20) by French police for not having a clear field of vision.

Traffic police in the western city of Nantes fined the 31-year-old woman in early April. >>> Henry Samuel in Paris | Friday, April 23, 2010

France’s Model Muslim: 'Imam for Peace' Sows Discontent
Hassen Chalghoumi. Photograph: Spiegel Online International
SPIEGEL ONLINE INTERNATIONAL: What happens when a Muslim cleric embraces the values of the West? In France, President Sarkozy is using the teachings of one imam for his own purposes. Hassen Chalghoumi, who has backed calls for a burqa ban, now faces threats from his own community.

Hassen Chalghoumi is the best-known imam in France and easily the most controversial, even though he preaches peace instead of hate. Police cars are stationed in front of his mosque during Friday prayers, and he has two bodyguards with him at all times when he goes out in public. Sometimes, when it all becomes too much for him, he takes his wife and their five children and goes away for a week or two, in the hope that all the excitement over him and the ideas he preaches will calm down again,. But the tactic hasn't worked so far, because the whole thing flares up again as soon as he returns home. Chalghoumi has led a hectic life in recent weeks.

There are 5 million Muslims in France, although there could even be as many as 8 million, no one knows for sure. Some have been there for a long time while others are recent immigrants. Within this population, there are believed to be 1,400 women who wear either the large full-body veil, the burqa, in black or blue, or the niqab, the full veil that covers the face apart from the eyes, although that number could also be as low as 400. In any case, Chalghoumi dared to publicly condemn the wearing of the full veil, and he welcomed the idea of outlawing it -- something that may have been ill-advised.

Chalghoumi's is a man who doesn't reveal much about himself, while others seem to think that they know everything about him. What is indisputable is that he was born in Tunis in 1972, immigrated to France in 1996 and became a French citizen in 2000, or perhaps it wasn't until two years later. Sometimes Chalghoumi contradicts himself, or he doesn't remember the details correctly, or he is quoted out of context. It isn't easy to figure him out, but it is easy to like him. He is a gentle person, a man with the grace of a professional dancer. Journey Into a Different World >>> Ullrich Fichtner, Translated from the German by Christopher Sultan |Friday, April 23, 2010

Syria Smoking Ban Enters Into Force
BBC: Syria has become the first Arab state to implement a ban on smoking in public places, such as restaurants and cafes.

The decree also outlaws smoking in educational institutions, health centres, sports halls, cinemas and theatres and on public transport.

Workers must not smoke during meetings and businesses need to provide well-ventilated areas for smokers.

The restrictions include the nargile, or hubble-bubble pipe, which is popular among locals and tourists.

The decree was signed last November by President Bashar al-Assad, a qualified medical doctor.

According to the official news agency SANA, fines for violating the ban range from 500 to 100,000 Syrian pounds (US$11 to $2,169). >>> | Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Somalia Islamists Al-Shabab Ban BBC Transmissions
BBC: The Somali Islamist movement al-Shabab has banned the BBC and closed down transmitters broadcasting the Somali language service inside the country.

Al-Shabab accused the BBC of fighting against Islam and supporting the transitional federal government, which the rebels are fighting to overthrow.

The group said the BBC had been broadcasting the agenda of crusaders and colonialists against Muslims.

The BBC said it was strictly impartial and spoke to all sides in the conflict.

The BBC has been broadcasting its services in Somali, Arabic and English across the country on a series of FM frequencies for at least a decade, and surveys suggest it is one of the most widely listened-to news services in Somalia. >>> By Peter Greste
East Africa correspondent, BBC News | Friday, April 09, 2010

International Right-Wingers Gather for EU-Wide Minaret Ban
Minaret in Switzerland. Wangen bei Olten. Photograph: Spiegel Online International
SPIEGEL ONLINE INTERNATIONAL: Delegates from right-wing populist parties from across Europe are descending on Germany this weekend for a conference looking into the possibility of an EU-wide minaret ban. The hosts, an anti-Muslim German group, hope to use the gathering as a springboard to success in local elections.

What could be more European than a castle? The Continent is dotted with them, often menacingly perched on forested hilltops overlooking rivers or ancient trading routes -- important bastions necessary for the defense of what developed into Europe's long and rich cultural tradition.

These days, of course, European castles tend to be little more than bucolic tourist attractions. But it is perhaps no accident that a small palace in western Germany's former industrial heart has been chosen to host a convention ostensibly aimed at defending European culture. The castle in question is the centuries-old Horst Palace, a Renaissance structure in the Ruhr Valley city of Gelsenkirchen. The gathering is called, pointedly, the Anti-Minaret Conference.

This Saturday, politicians representing right-wing conservative parties from across Europe will descend on the Horst Palace to discuss the dangers of Islam. Delegates from the Belgian nationalists Vlaams Belang will be there as will politicians from Geert Wilders's Dutch Party for Freedom, Pia Kjaersgaard's Danish People's Party and the Front National of Jean-Marie Le Pen. Others from Sweden, Austria and Eastern Europe are also on the invite list.

'Symbols of Radical Islam'

The hosts are a relatively new group of German right-wing conservatives called Pro-NRW (an abbreviation of the German state North Rhine-Westphalia) and the goal of the conference is clear: to follow in Switzerland's footsteps and ban minarets across Europe. And they want to use a provision of the European Union's new Lisbon Treaty to do it.

"I don't think that minarets are part of our heritage," conference attendee Filip Dewinter, floor leader for Vlaams Belang in the Flemish parliament, told SPIEGEL ONLINE. "They are symbols of radical Islam. The question is whether Islam is a religion like Protestantism and Catholicism and for me it is not. It is a political system, it is a way of life and it is one that is not compatible with ours." >>> Charles Hawley in Berlin | Friday, March 26, 2010

Russia Bans Hitler's Mein Kampf Over Fears It Fuels Rise of Far-Right
THE TELEGRAPH: Adolf Hitler's book Mein Kampf has been banned in Russia in an attempt to combat the growing allure of far-Right politics.

Russian prosecutors on Friday banned the 1925 semi-autobiographical book, saying its outline of racial supremacy encouraged extremist and violent behaviour.

Despite including tracts that are both anti-Jewish and anti-Russian, it has become increasingly popular among Russia's far-Right groups.

Russian extremists have attacked migrant workers from poor nations in Central Asia and the Caucasus who come to Russia and often have menial jobs and squalid living conditions. African and Asian students and Russians who do not look Slavic have also been targeted.

At least 60 people were killed and 306 injured in hate attacks in Russia last year, according to Sova, a Moscow-based non-governmental organisation that tracks racist violence. >>> | Friday, March 26, 2010

No Veil or No Service from Public Institutions, New Bill Urges Quebeckers
THE GLOBE AND MAIL – Quebec City: Unprecedented legislation requires Muslim women to show their faces in all government locations

Quebec has tabled unprecedented legislation requiring Muslim women to show their faces in all government locations, including schools, hospitals and daycares.

The controversial move by the Charest government - which has said it is committed to secularism and gender equality - marks the first time it has chosen to craft laws to accommodate minorities.

The legislation means the niqab, a full veil covering worn by some Muslim women, will essentially be barred from all government bodies, whether the woman is working for the government or receiving services.

However, public servants can continue to wear religious symbols like a cross or Star of David or even the partial veil known as the hijab worn by Muslim women - just so long as a person's face is in full view.

The bill tabled yesterday in the province's National Assembly said that face coverings of any kind won't be allowed because they disrupt personal interactions, and makes it hard to identify and communicate with people.

"Here in Quebec we receive and we give services with our face uncovered. That's an affirmation that is novel. We believe firmly that we are within the limits of the Charter of Rights," said Justice Minister Kathleen Weil.

"It's a strong, forceful piece of legislation and it's partly because it's so simple." >>> With reports from the Canadian Press and Sarah Boesveld | Thursday, March 25, 2010

THE GLOBE AND MAIL: Quebec's view on niqab creates fault line: English-speaking Canada assails province's opposition to headwear; Quebeckers respond with cries of ‘marshmallow multiculturalism' >>> With a report from Ingrid Peritz | Friday, March 19, 2010

Anti-Dhimmitude! France to Ban Veil Says Nicolas Sarkozy
THE TELEGRAPH: Nicolas Sarkozy has said that France will ban the full Muslim veil.

The move would protect the dignity of women, the president added.

“The full veil is contrary to the dignity of women,” he said. “The response is to ban it. The Government will table a draft law prohibiting it.” >>> | Thursday, March 25, 2010

France's Burka Dilemma
Proposals to ban face veils provoked debate in France's Muslim community. Photograph: BBC
BBC: France could become the first country in Europe to ban the burka. A draft law submitted to the French parliament would make it illegal for a woman to cover her face in public spaces such as hospitals and trains. But the proposal has divided the country's five million-strong Muslim community.

26 year-old Anisa wears a bright blue niqab, a piece of clothing that covers her completely except for her eyes and perfectly arched eyebrows.

You can't miss her among the crowds: maybe it is because of the colour of the niqab or because there is no other woman around who is covered up to this extent.

She has been wearing it for a year-and-a-half. Anisa's family, who are originally from Morocco, are against her wearing the niqab. But Anisa believes it is her religious duty.

According to official figures there are just 1900 women who wear the burka in France. Most of them are young and a quarter are converts.

But a report from the French intelligence services put this figure much lower at 367, out of an estimated population of five million Muslims, the largest in Europe.

When I met Anisa in the suburbs of Seine-Saint Denis, an area with the highest concentration of Muslims in France, she says that ever since she started wearing the niqab she has had unwelcome attention from the police, has been insulted in the street and is frequently stared at.

Women wearing the burka - a veil which covers the whole face - or the niqab in France are not as visible as those in Britain. But look hard enough in the suburbs and you can find them.

The mosque in the town of Drancy, on the outskirts of Paris, is currently the most controversial in France because the imam here has come out in support of the government's decision to ban the burka.

Imam Hassan Chalghoumi is now facing death threats and has been given police protection. Ignoring the advice of his advisors he spoke to the Today programme. >>> Zubeida Malik , Today Programme | Monday, March 15, 2010

Ban That Bloody Burqah!
THE TELEGRAPH: The head of President Nicolas Sarkozy's Right-wing UMP party on Tuesday said he would continue to push for a total ban of face-covering Islamic veils in France.

Jean-François Copé's proposal for a full ban was backed by 190 MPs but rejected by a cross-party commission, which handed a list of proposals to parliament recommending a ban of the burka or niqab in state facilities but not in the street.

The ban would apply to public places, including all schools, hospitals, public transport and government offices. It described the face-covering veil as an unacceptable "challenge to our republic".

However, after six months of hearings, the commission stopped short of outlawing the veil in the streets, in shopping centres and other public venues, due to doubts about the constitutionality of such a move.

Mr Copé, however, dismissed the idea a full ban was unconstitutional.
"It is incomprehensible to say you can't wear (the full veil) in hospitals but can in bakeries," he told the Daily Telegraph.

His stance is backed by the majority of French: a poll last week showed 57 per cent are in favour of a total ban.

The cross-party report recommends passing a parliamentary resolution, paving the way to a law making it illegal for anyone to appear with their face covered at state-run institutions and on public transport, for security reasons.

Niqab-clad women could be denied services at the post office, or other government buildings, as well as access to a work visa, residency papers or French citizenship, the report said.

Parliament is expected to pass a resolution after regional elections in March, with a law possible "by the end of the year", according to one commission member. France moves closer to Muslim face veil ban >>> Henry Samuel in Paris | Tuesday, January 26, 2010

LE TEMPS: France : Alerte contre les «barbares» en burqa : Un rapport parlementaire préconise des mesures pour compliquer la vie des femmes portant le voile intégral. Dans l’espoir, à terme, d’éliminer le phénomène >>> Sylvain Besson | Mercredi 27 Janvier 2010

Bravo for Nico! Nicolas Sarkozy Backs a Ban on the Full Muslim Veil
TIMES ONLINE: Curbs on wearing the full Muslim veil come a step closer in France today with a report that will call for a ban on the dress in post offices, universities, hospitals and state-owned premises, as well as public transport.

Last night President Sarkozy was due to endorse the proposals, to be made by an all-party commission. Last week he called the niqab, the form of veil worn in France, “contrary to our values and to the ideals we have of women’s dignity”. Parliament is expected to act on the proposals in the spring.

If they become law women with covered faces would be refused public services such as transport, university classes and benefits. >>> Charles Bremner in Paris | Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Ban That Bloody Burqah! Ban on Burqas Receives Strong Public Support in France
THE SUNDAY TIMES: A report drawn up by French MPs will this week call for a ban on Afghan-style burqas and other garments that cover a woman’s face.

The proposal has strong public support. According to an opinion poll by Ipsos for the magazine Le Point, 57% of voters favour a ban while 37% are opposed.

The recommendations of a parliamentary commission, to be published on Tuesday, are expected to include a bar on wearing full veils on public transport and in schools, hospitals and public-sector offices including post offices. The commission is thought likely to call for a total ban after further consultation.

President Nicolas Sarkozy launched a debate on veils last June, telling a special sitting of both houses of parliament that they were “not welcome” in France. He said last week the full veil was “contrary to our values and to the ideals we have of women’s dignity”. >>> John Follain in Paris | Sunday, January 24, 2010

There's Little or No Hope for Britain: This Question Time Video Shows Us Just How Ignorant and Uninformed Many British People Are – On the Geert Wilders UK Ban

Muslim Clerics Seek Ban on 'Funky Hairstyles' in Indonesia
THE TELEGRAPH: Muslim clerics in Indonesia have demanded a ban on women having perms or straightening their hair, which they described as 'inviting moral danger'.

An Islamic body which has issued fatwas on inappropriate behaviour from practising yoga to failing to vote in elections said it is now considering a request to tackle the craze among pupils in religious boarding schools.

Clerics from East Java have also requested a fatwa banning dreadlocks, punk haircuts and "funky hairstyles". >>> | Thursday, January 21, 2010

France Gets Tough on the Burqah
MAIL ONLINE: Women who wear the burka in France should be banned from using public transport or receiving state handouts, a government spokesman has said.

The call came just one day after the head of President Nicolas Sarkozy's party, the UMP, said that Muslim women wearing full face veils should not be granted French nationality.

Now UMP party spokesman Frederic Lefebvre has demanded any woman breaking a proposed law making the garment illegal should be 'deprived of her rights'.

He said: 'When you don't respect your responsibilities, you should not have access to any benefits.

'The rights and responsibilities of citizens in France are important.

'When you ignore rules that make things illegal, like a ban on the burka, you have have some of your rights taken away, like the right to state benefits or using public transport.'

Ruling UMP party chief Xavier Bertrand said on Sunday that women who wear burkas and niqabs should not be allowed to acquire French citizenship.

He said: 'The full veil is simply a prison for women who wear it and will make no one believe a woman wearing it wants to integrate.'

President Sarkozy has branded Islamic face veils 'a sign of debasement that imprison women' and said they are not welcome in his country.

As the national debate raged on Islamic headwear, Sarkozy said last week he wants MPs to vote on a total ban on all full face veils in France. Ban women wearing the burka from benefits and public transport, demands French government spokesman >>> Ian Sparks | Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Joe Brinkley’s Viewpoint: Clashing worlds - Europe and Islam
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE: Europe and the Islamic world are at war. It's a proxy conflict, fought in European capitals and on the Arab streets. But people are being killed.

Earlier this month, Islamic gunmen slaughtered six Christians as they left church in southern Egypt on Coptic Christmas Eve, setting off a week of retributive violence. This was just the latest incident in a cascading series of repressive and violent acts against Christians living in numerous Arab states, including the Palestinian territories, Iraq and Morocco, among other places.

Meantime, across Europe, government leaders are contemplating or enacting ever-more repressive rules on Muslim residents and citizens, who are carrying their lifestyles and grievances into unforgiving societies.

The most famous example: The Swiss electorate voted last month to ban the construction of new minarets. Then, early this month, a fiery Islamic cleric in England announced that he would organize a large protest march through the streets of a town near London that regularly honors passing hearses carrying British soldiers killed in Afghanistan. Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he was "personally appalled," and then on Tuesday Britain banned the group.

In both worlds, the conflicts result from misunderstanding and outright intolerance, fanned oftentimes by extremists**, like Geert Wilders, a Dutch member of parliament. He travels the Western world preaching an anti-Islamic screed. Wilders has hit a chord, and the transcript of one speech he gave in New York last year has gone viral, landing in millions of e-mail in-boxes and watched on YouTube nearly 1 million times.

Wilders likes to note that "it is not a coincidence that every terrorist act is based on this fascist book the Quran, this wrong ideology, and unfortunately has been done by people from the Islamic world. I don't believe that cultures are equal. I believe that our culture is much better than the retarded Islamic culture."

In England, meanwhile, Anjem Choudary, leader of the banned Islamic group, posted his view on his organization's Web site recently, saying the march (now canceled) would be in honor of "the real war dead who have been shunned by the Western media and general public as they were, and continue to be, horrifically murdered in the name of democracy and freedom: the innocent Muslim man, women and children."

An estimated 20 million Muslims now live in Europe. Many emigrated to take menial jobs that Europeans were no longer willing to do. The problem for Europeans is that these immigrants tend not to assimilate. They live in their own communities where some of their leaders enforce elements of Shariah law. >>> Joel Brinkley* | Saturday, January 16, 2010

*Joel Brinkley, a professor of journalism at Stanford University, is a former foreign correspondent for the New York Times.

**Joel Brinkley’s viewpoint.

Islam4UK’s Radical Spokesman Anjem Choudary Pledges to Keep Preaching
Anjem Choudary, Islam4UK's spokesman, sips a latte and talks about the creation of an Islamic state of Britain. Photograph: Times Online
TIMES ONLINE: Anjem Choudary sits in a North London café, sips on a vanilla latte and then launches into a tirade about the decadence of the West.

With machinegun delivery, he expounds on numerous themes: British Muslims are suffering persecution because the Government rules by division; Sharia will solve all Britain’s ills; Western governments are carrying out terror attacks in the Middle East so they can be blamed on extremists.

His propaganda is peppered with colourful analogies. Moderate Muslims, for example, have lost their values and are like “vegetarians who eat beefburgers”. Holding court, with three young supporters hanging on his every word, it appears like business as usual for Mr Choudary. Except for one matter: we met on Thursday morning, when the Home Office ban on Islam4UK, Mr Choudary’s controversial group, had just come into effect. He and his supporters, dressed in traditional Islamic fashion, are defiant nonetheless.

Mr Choudary, a former solicitor whose plans to stage an anti-war protest in Wootton Bassett in Wiltshire caused widespread furore, told The Times: “Unless the Government can prove that you are ostensibly exactly the same organisation, doing the same things at the same time, it’s very difficult to clamp down.

“I’m not going to stop propagating Islam. I can still talk with journalists ... we can still go out publicly and talk about Islam. I could write a leaflet now ... and I could invite people to Islam.” The question he was unable to answer, however, was whether many people would actually be interested. >>> Fiona Hamilton, London Correspondent | Saturday, January 16, 2010

US Gay Marriage Ban Challenged in Federal Court
Two gay couples are testifying at the trial. Photograph: BBC
BBC: The first US federal court case to determine whether states are allowed to ban same-sex marriages has opened in San Francisco, California.

Any ruling reached is expected to be challenged, possibly taking the case all the way to the US Supreme Court.

A Supreme Court ruling would determine the fate of gay marriages nationwide, without the possibility of appeal.

The suit, filed by two gay couples, challenges Proposition 8 - a ban on gay marriage in the state of California.

The law amended California's constitution to restrict marriage to a union between a man and a woman.

Supporters of the challenge are comparing it to landmark cases which ended segregation in US schools and overturned a ban on interracial marriage, the BBC's Rajesh Mirchandani reports.

They say the Constitution enshrines the right to marry but, by limiting it to heterosexual couples, it discriminates against gay people. >>> | Tuesday, January 12, 2010

France Set on Banning Muslim Niqab in Public
THE GLOBE AND MAIL: Sarkozy's party, opposition in unison about need to curb use of ‘prison for women,' but disagree about how to do so without violating constitutional rights

A bruising battle is shaping up in France over whether fully veiled Muslim women should be banned from appearing on the street or in any other public setting, a proposal already endorsed by many of President Nicolas Sarkozy's rightwing allies.

The fight is not over whether the face-covering niqab , or burka , as it is commonly called in France, should be tolerated.

Mr. Sarkozy has said the head-to-toe garment is unwelcome on French soil. The leader of his party bloc in the National Assembly called it a “negation of life in society.” The spokesman for the Socialist opposition condemned it as “a prison for women,” a description only slightly less damning than that of his Communist colleague who termed it “ambulatory prison.”

Five months after setting out to ban the burka , French politicians are with few exceptions divided only over how to go about it without violating constitutional guarantees of freedom of expression.

The Socialists' spokesman, Benoît Hamon, said on Wednesday that while his party opposes the niqab , it has decided that an outright ban would be unenforceable. But a number of leftwing deputies have indicated they will refuse to follow the party line if a ban comes up for a vote.

Several members of Mr. Sarkozy's party have said they plan to introduce a bill to outlaw the wearing of the niqab in the next few days.

Jean-François Copé, the party's parliamentary leader, called the garment a threat by radical Islamists to the nation's security. “Extremists are testing the republic by encouraging a practice they know to be contrary to the essential principles of our country,” he said.

Women wearing the head-to-toe covering, which leaves just a narrow opening for the eyes, are a rare sight in France. The French domestic intelligence agency said late last year it has even counted them, and found precisely 367 niqab-wearers in a country with a Muslim population estimated at close to six million.

Still, the garment has become a red flag, feeding a more generalized unease over the visibility of Islam that has dominated a continuing government-sponsored debate on France's national identity. >>> Susan Sachs | Wednesday, January 06, 2010