Northern UMP deputy member Françoise Hostalier has proposed a similar legislation against headscarves in the National Assembly to the 2004 prohibition of conspicuous religious signs in public schools. Hostalier’s request comes in the wake of students who “provocatively” wore hijabs in the National Assembly in a recent visit. On November 19 in response to protest…
Led by Jean-François Copé, Nicolas Sarkozy’s political party, the UMP or the Union for a Popular Movement, has launched a website to consider and debate the niqab and burqa in the Republic: http://la-burqa-en-debat.fr/. The website includes polls, definitions, video stream and position pieces by elected officials, as well as additional information links on the subject….
Construction of the largest mosque in France is set to begin in Marseille. UMP mayor Jean-Claude Gaudin delivered the building permit; Marseille has approximately 200,000 Muslims, approximately one quarter of the population. The 8600 m2 lot was formerly an abattoir and will house the prayer hall, theological school, library, restaurant, bookstore and amphitheatre. The prayer…
Fadéla Amera, secretary of state for urban policies in the conservative UMP (Union for a Popular Movement) party, has announced new incentives for the government’s “Hope Suburbs” project. Among them are a 10% tax initiative for schools which accept students from “difficult” neighborhoods and more banlieusard (suburban-living) youths being hired at the Roissy airport. Those…
This Le Figaro interview features Jacques Myard, member of the National Assembly (UMP) who represents the Yvelines department, and Mohammed Moussaoui, president of the CFCM (the French Council of the Muslim Faith). The former expresses the necessity to ban burqas in France to protect the status of women, while the latter claims that such a…
