101 still defy French law
2004-09-20 13:56
Paris - Thanks in part to an outpouring of sympathy for two French hostages in Iraq, only 101 girls are still refusing to respect a new law banning Islamic head scarves in schools, the education minister said in an interview published on Monday.
Francois Fillon said the crisis over the two French journalists was a prime factor in reducing conflicts over the law since it went into effect when the school year started nearly three weeks ago.
"I feared difficulties, provocations," Fillon told the daily Le Parisien. "The international situation led to reflexes of responsibility."
The hostage crisis became "a factor of solidarity around secularism and the values of the republic," he said.
Most respect the law
A group calling itself the Islamic Army of Iraq has for the last month been holding two French men - Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot - and demanding that France scrap the law banning head scarves.
A delegation of Muslim leaders unhappy with the law travelled to Baghdad to try to secure the hostages' release - sending out a message that the law is an internal French affair.
Fillon's remarks accompanied a poll in which 76% of 1 000 people questioned said they supported the law, which bans all conspicuous religious signs or apparel in public schools. However, 20% opposed the law, according to the poll by the CSA firm for the Education Ministry. No margin of error was provided for the poll, which questioned people aged 15 and older from September 14-15.
The measure outlaws large Christian crosses and Jewish skullcaps, but is aimed at forcing Muslim girls to remove their headscarves.
The law also applies to turbans worn by some boys in France's tiny Sikh community. The Sikh temple in Bobigny, outside Paris, said over the weekend that three Sikh boys who have refused to take off their turbans at the local school "remain confined to the cafeteria, isolated, cast aside."
Up to the school
The minister did not mention the Sikhs, who were ignored during the debate on the legislation.
The law calls for an undetermined period of dialogue to persuade offenders to respect the law. It is up to the school if the student can attend classes during the dialogue phase.
But if no accord is reached, the student is supposed to be expelled. No expulsions were expected before October.
According to Fillon, 1 500 Muslim girls wore head scarves to school last year, while only 635 girls did so at the start of this school year. All but 101 have since taken off their head coverings.
- AP