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Veil protester in campaign for French presidency
Source: Agencies |
September 23, 2011, Friday
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KENZA Drider's posters for the French presidential race are ready to go, months before the official campaign begins. She is the "freedom candidate," pictured standing in front of a line of police, a forbidden veil hiding her face.
Drider declared her candidacy yesterday, the same day a French court fined two women who refuse to remove their veils.
All three are among a group of women mounting an attack on the law that has banned the garments from the streets of France since April, and prompted similar moves in other European countries.
They are determined to prove the ban contravenes fundamental rights and that women who veil their faces stand for freedom, not submission.
"When a woman wants to maintain her freedom, she must be bold," Drider said.
President Nicolas Sarkozy disagrees, and says the veil imprisons women.
Polls show most French people support the ban, which authorities estimate affects fewer than 2,000 women in the country.
Drider declared her candidacy in Meaux, the city east of Paris represented by conservative lawmaker and Sarkozy ally Jean-Francois Cope, who championed the ban.
She said: "I have the ambition today to serve all women who are the object of stigmatization or social, economic or political discrimination. It is important we show we are here, we are French citizens and that we, also, can bring solutions to French citizens."
Two women arrested for wearing veils in Meaux - while trying to deliver a birthday cake to Cope - were fined yesterday, one 120 euros (US$160), the other 80 euros.
They want to take their case to the European Court of Human Rights.
One, Hind Ahmas, said: "We cannot accept that women be punished because they are openly practicing their religious convictions. We are demanding the application of European rights."
Belgium has passed a similar face veil ban and the Netherlands has drawn up legislation to outlaw veils. A draft law has been approved in Italy.
Drider declared her candidacy yesterday, the same day a French court fined two women who refuse to remove their veils.
All three are among a group of women mounting an attack on the law that has banned the garments from the streets of France since April, and prompted similar moves in other European countries.
They are determined to prove the ban contravenes fundamental rights and that women who veil their faces stand for freedom, not submission.
"When a woman wants to maintain her freedom, she must be bold," Drider said.
President Nicolas Sarkozy disagrees, and says the veil imprisons women.
Polls show most French people support the ban, which authorities estimate affects fewer than 2,000 women in the country.
Drider declared her candidacy in Meaux, the city east of Paris represented by conservative lawmaker and Sarkozy ally Jean-Francois Cope, who championed the ban.
She said: "I have the ambition today to serve all women who are the object of stigmatization or social, economic or political discrimination. It is important we show we are here, we are French citizens and that we, also, can bring solutions to French citizens."
Two women arrested for wearing veils in Meaux - while trying to deliver a birthday cake to Cope - were fined yesterday, one 120 euros (US$160), the other 80 euros.
They want to take their case to the European Court of Human Rights.
One, Hind Ahmas, said: "We cannot accept that women be punished because they are openly practicing their religious convictions. We are demanding the application of European rights."
Belgium has passed a similar face veil ban and the Netherlands has drawn up legislation to outlaw veils. A draft law has been approved in Italy.
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