Additional
Reporting By Hadi Yahmid, IOL Correspondent
PARIS,
December 22 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Some six
thousand French Muslim women, many of them wearing hijab, took to the
streets of Paris to protest a planned law banning hijab in state-run
schools and President Jacques Chirac's support for “the
discriminatory” measure.
The
three-hour impromptu rally kicked off at 2:00 p.m. Paris local time
with the protesters chanting "Chirac, Stasi…Enough is
enough," "Yes to secularism…No to Islamophobia," and
"Yes to education and equality".
The
multiracial crowd of women, girls and even men gathered in la
place de la République, central Paris, chanting
the French anthem with French tricolor flags hovering over
their heads, asserting their loyalty to France and that their
religious values did not run counter to their patriotism.
"It
is an impromptu rally sparked by Chirac's televised
speech on December 17, which supported a ban on hijab in
public schools," Wasila and Ilaham, who both led the angry march,
told IslamOnline.net.
Carrying
their French identities in one hand and the French flag in the other,
the protesters made their way to la place de la Bastille, the French
symbol of the end of the Monarchy and the beginning of the First
Republic.
"I,
as a French Muslim woman, am proud of this day with droves of
hijab-wearing women huddling together here to defend hijab and their
religion," one of the protesters told IOL, adding that they would
state a similar mass rally on January 17.
The
demo came as a surprise to the Islamic organizations in the western
European country.
The
protesters, wearing hijabs of various styles and colors, were
referring to former French Minister Bernard Stasi, who headed a
government committee on secularism and religion, which recommended
issuing a law banning hijab, large crosses and the Jewish skullcaps.
Chirac
had joined the anti-hijab camp in France by describing hijab as "a
sort of aggression" during a meeting with students
at the Pierre Mendes-France School in the Tunisian capital on December
6.
'I
Vote'
 |
|
The
leaders of the protest voice their opposition to the planned law
|
One
of the banners sent a strong message to Chirac and his ruling party -
Union Pour un Movement Populaire (UMP) - warning him that the
country's estimated 5 million to 7 million Muslims could constitute a
formidable voting bloc, reported the Washington Post.
"Don't
Touch My Veil!" and "I Vote," read a banner, a reminder
of France's regional elections, which start next March.
"They
talk about human rights. They talk about democracy," a man
pushing his small daughter in a toy car festooned with a French flag
told the Post.
"So
where is the liberty here?" he wondered.
With
Chirac's ruling party enjoying a comfortable majority in Parliament,
and even the opposition Socialists backing the ban on religious
symbols in schools, the proposed law is expected to be passed as early
as February, the daily said.
The
planned legislation has drawn a barrage of Muslim criticism worldwide,
with British Muslims saying such laws are only issued by "authoritarian
governments and not liberal democracies".
