French schools have asked dozens of girls to leave for declining to take off their abayas, a garment worn by Muslim women from shoulders to feet, on the first day of the school year, according to a government minister on Tuesday.
In defiance of the ban on the Muslim robe, about 300 girls arrived on Monday morning wearing abayas, as stated by Gabriel Attal in an interview with BFM broadcaster.
Gabriel Attal explained that while most students complied and changed out of their robes, 67 girls stood their ground and were subsequently sent home.
Last month, the government’s announcement of a ban on the abaya in schools cited a violation of secularism in education rules. This follows previous bans on Muslim headscarves, which were considered displays of religious affiliation.
Read also: Coup Supporters Ask French Ambassador To Leave Niger
The political right welcomed this move, while the hard left criticized it as a violation of civil liberties.
Attal said the girls refused entry were issued a letter addressed to their families noting that ‘secularism is not a constraint, it is a liberty’.
Should they show up at school again wearing the abaya there would be a ‘new dialogue’, the minister said.
Last Monday, President Emmanuel Macron upheld the controversial action, saying there was a ‘minority’ in France who ‘hijack a religion and challenge the republic and secularism’, leading to the ‘worst consequences’.
He brought up the case from three years ago when teacher Samuel Paty was killed for exhibiting caricatures of Prophet Mohammed in a civics education class.
‘We cannot act as if the terrorist attack, the murder of Samuel Paty, had not happened,’ he said in an interview with You Tube channel HugoDecrypte.
An association advocating for Muslims has filed a petition with the State Council, France’s top court for handling complaints against government authorities, to secure an injunction against the prohibition of the abaya and the qamis, its male equivalent.
Tuesday saw the examination of the motion filed by the Action for the Rights of Muslims (ADM).
France’s Council of the Muslim Faith (CFCM), acting as the representative body for Muslims in interactions with the government, voiced apprehensions regarding the abaya ban potentially leading to greater discrimination. It also revealed its consideration of submitting its own complaint to the State Council.