Thousands of Muslim women demonstrated in the streets of France, Britain and the Middle East Saturday against a looming ban on Islamic headscarves in French state schools.
About 5,000 people marched in Paris wielding French and Islamic flags, along with banners denouncing the ban that French President Jacques Chirac and most of the country's politicians favour.
Veiled and bareheaded women alike marched in the streets chanting: “the veil is my choice” and “we've chosen the headscarf.”
The protests are a co-ordinated international event, with large demonstrations of several thousand people being staged in Beirut and the Gaza Strip, and smaller demonstrations in London, Brussels, Bahrain, Bethlehem and Kashmir.
Veiled women chant in the streets of France Saturday as thousands around the world demonstrate against a new French law banning Muslim head scarves in public schools. (Claude Paris/AP)
Muslim students are expected to hold a demonstration in front of the French consulates and embassies in Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa and a number of American cities later Saturday.
Mainstream Muslim groups refused to participate in the event because it was organized by a small radical group, the Muslim Party of France, which is linked to the Lebanese group Hezbollah that appears on Canada's list of terror organizations.
French President Jacques Chirac last month asked parliament to introduce the law as a way to stem a rise in Islamic fundamentalism among the country's population of five million Muslims.
The law forbids Muslim headscarves, Jewish skullcaps and large Christian crosses in public schools and threatens students who refuse to abandon their religious garments with expulsion.
France plans to debate the law in parliament in the coming weeks and it could be imposed as early as September.
Mr. Chirac has also said he wants to clear the way for businesses to impose similar bans.
