Violence Breaks Out In Paris Over Burkha Ban

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2341113/Frances-burkha-ban-sparks-violence-Paris-police-try-arrest-woman-wearing-veil-pregnant-woman-attacked-covering-face.html

Whereas it was completely wrong for a pregnant woman to be attacked by two men, In a separate incident Was it right for the French police to be attacked by a mob of 60 for enforcing the French burkha ban?

[RATTER15]

What race/religion were the 60 attackers?

Either way it wasn't right, just curious.

[Gromit]

Criminalising someone for what they want to wear is the height of stupidity.

Unfortunately Governments abroad and here, do pass stupid laws occassionally, and it is up to the people to resist them. Generally, they do that by just ignoring the stupid law on mass. And making a fuss when arrested. The French must expect more of this. It is a law designed to stir up hostility and confrontation and it is working.

The police are in an unfortunate position in that they are told to make sure this flawed law is implemented, and they are in the frontline of the hostility it incites.

[emmie]

they banned it, it's unenforceable, you would need the police force the size of a Chinese army to make it stick. And can you see how this plays out, drag woman off the street because she is wearing a burkha and veil, goes down well with human rights activists.

[emmie]

personally i dislike that mode of dress, i do think it's divisive, same as here where more and more women are wearing it. But banning it just won't work.

[jomifl]

Gromit, The Burkha law is not so much about preventing women from wearing what they like but more about allowing them to wear what they like. If no-one can wear the burkha in public then they can't be forced to do so by their local mullah.

[emmie]

jom, the problem with that is if the woman says it's her choice, as happens here.

[jomifl]

just the one em?

[emmie]

i wonder that no one has mentioned that the six women wearing burkhas in the Selfridges raid recently were in fact men, and certainly one that was caught, was white, not so much funny as quite frightening that the mode of dress can be used for such nefarious ends. They couldn't go in wearing balaclavas and cycle gear obviously, but looked quite normal presumably wearing burkhas.

[emmie]

jom women then, if they are persuaded that it's best if they cover up because of family, or the husband, and that something will happen to them if they don't then that is coercion, but if the women say it's their choice, what can you do. If someone said to me i can't wear t shirt and jeans in UK i would tell them to feck off.

[jomifl]

The law was brought in by a democratically elected government. Minorities sometimes have to give in to the wishes of the majority.

[jomifl]

em, I guess that the French government have good reason to believe that the majority of muslim women are being coerced. Certainly teenage girls have no choice in the matter and the burkha certainly doesn't aid integration.

[emmie]

i agree, but that isn't happening here, nor will it in France. Sarkhozy did this to appear to be tough on immigration, like rounding up illegal immigrants, there was one ugly scene where the immigrant men stood back whilst the women were harrassed, jostled by the French police, it didn't play well in the media. It made Sarkhozy look stupid for one thing, not to mention racist and they have enough already, just look at the far right, Martine Le Pen... and her ilk

[FredPuli43]

Why do you ask? No,the pregnant woman should not have been attacked and no, a mob of 60, or any number, should not have attacked the police.

Do you think that law is sensible, aog? I don't think it was passed to prevent shoplifting, by the way.

[emmie]

France has a sizeable Muslim population, Islam is second to Catholicism, so you can see it wouldn't be an easy task,

[emmie]

it wasn't to prevent shoplifting, it's supposedly to make women free, to be able to go about their daily lives uncovered, to not have to adhere to some religious persons idea of what a woman should look like, and how she should act, so to fit in.

[FredPuli43]

Although France has a large Muslim population it is almost entirely derived from the old French colonies of North Africa. Those peoples do not wear the niqab or the burka. That's why Sarkozy could ban them; that was a bold political gesture with no cost. You hardly ever see one; if you do, it is likely to be being worn by a Saudi woman shopping in Paris.

[woofgang]

em, the problem is that women will say its their choice because they have been brought up to believe that they should!

[emmie]

Fred, it;s been some time since i was in Paris, but the women i saw wearing burkhas weren't a small number. Same when i was in North Africa most of the women i saw wore them.

[jno]

most people's choices come from the way they were brought up. Some reassess their choices, some don't, but it's still their choice.

To suggest they're lying is just as disrespectful as telling them what they can't wear.

[redvanman]

It should be band here in the uk as well before it is to last