Burka makes women prisoners, says French President
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President President Sarkozy arrives at the Palace of Versailles to address both houses of the French Parliament
President Sarkozy has opposed the practice that makes French Muslim women cover their face in public.
In his ‘state of the nation’ address to the French Parliament, he called the dress code for Muslim women as a “debasement of women”.
His strong words on the niqab and the burka were part of a confident personal performance review that was decried by the opposition as a selfaggrandising stunt, according to the Times.
‘In our country we cannot accept that women be prisoners behind a screen, cut off from all social life, deprived of all identity’, Sarkozy said.
Arguing that the burka is ‘not a religious’ sign, the French President said, ‘It is a sign of subservience, a sign of debasement’. And added ‘It will not be welcome on the territory of the French Republic’.
France has a five million-strong Muslim community. The controversy over Muslim women dress code started early June when 60 MPs from both sides of the house demanded action against the burka and the niqab. France had banned head scarf for Muslim children going to schools in 2004.
Muslim leaders reacted cautiously to Sarkozy’s remarks, according to media dispatches from Paris.
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