Nora
Rami, member of the Paris-based Free Community Organization that works
in tandem with Protect Hijab, said the gathering was organized in a
civilized manner, adding their message was passed along verbally and
through banners.
“We
raised two banners: the first told the French people that the French
Muslims don’t oppose secularism but are against the expulsion of
[hijab-clad] Muslim girls from public schools,” Rami told IOL.
“The
second one reminds that public schools must accept any citizen
irrespective of his/her religion or background.”
Rami
said both Lucas and Ludford were keen on sharing the moment with French
girls who
have been expelled from schools.
“They
showed up and consoled with many of the girls expelled by their
schools in France and talked with them about their problems,” she
said.
Lucas,
on her part, said in a statement to IOL that the French hijab ban was
an attack on the Muslim minority as well as an affront to civil
liberties.
“The
civil liberties affronted by this ban are central to the ideals of the
French republic - and the French government must defend them, standing
up for Muslims, Jews, Sikhs and Christians, and for a multicultural
Europe free of the violence and mistrust which characterizes the
conflict in the Middle East and elsewhere.
“The
ban violates the human rights of free expression and freedom to
practice religion, undermines multiculturalism and is likely to create
tension and racist attacks.”
Rami
further said that the pro-hijab campaign has succeeded in collecting
53 signatures from MEPs, but is still far below the 366 needed.
“I
think it’s a great achievement at the end of the day,” she said.
Protect
Hijab Coordinator Abeer Pharaon told IOL in an earlier interview that
of 161 written declarations on different issues that had been
presented to the parliament, only six were adopted.
French
Parliament
 |
|
“The
ban violates the human rights of free expression and freedom to
practice religion,” said Lucas.
|
On
their next move, Rami said her organization has already prepared a
report documenting anti-hijab incidents and giving feedback on the
consequences that followed the application of the law.
“The
French parliament will discuss the consequences of the law
approximately in July as French deputies promised to raise the issue
in one year’s time,” she said.
“We
have sent our report to the 577 members of the French parliament, and
though we know that they won’t amend the law but at least we tried
our best.”
France's
lower house of parliament adopted the controversial bill on February 10 last year with an
overwhelming majority.
The
text, put forward by President Jacques Chirac's ruling center-right
Union for a Popular Majority (UMP) party and supported by the
left-wing opposition Socialists, was adopted by a vote of 494 to 36.
Demonstrators
took to streets in more than 20 European countries following the
application of the law in September.
International
figures also stood behind the Muslim right, including London Mayor Ken
Livingstone, who said Paris’s move is an “anti-Muslim measure”
and accused Chirac plays a “terribly, terribly dangerous game.”
Islam
sees hijab as an obligatory code of dress, not a religious symbol
displaying one’s affiliations.
