France: Police fear having to enforce veil ban

France: Police fear having to enforce veil ban

If the French parliament approves the law to ban the burka, the police will be asked to enforce it, Justice Minister Michèle Alliot-Marie, told Le Parisien. Alliot-Marie said they rely on the police, the French Council of the Muslim Faith and the municipalities to educate those women and explain to them that wearing the veil violates the principles of the Republic. Yannick Danio, national delegate for the Unité SGP-Police union, says it's laughable, and like a number of his colleagues, he wonders how the law would be enforced.

This article was prepared by the Islam in Europe blog - islamineurope.blogspot.com


While ticketing doesn't pose any particular problem, how to stop the offense? If he asks a veiled woman to remove her veil, it won't pass without incident, he says. Frédéric Lagache, secretary general of the Alliance union also thinks so. The police will be used as scapegoats, he says. Neither can imagine asking a veiled women to remove her veil outside a mosque. And what would he do with women from the Emirates staying over at the Ritz, Yannick Danio asks ironically. Frédéric Lagache insists that the police are there to enforce the law and that they're outside the context of the legislator. In the preceding example, he tried to reassure himself, the woman will end up moving away from the mosque.

But Yannick Danio insists that guidelines would be needed. In 90% of the cases, he said, it will lead to a clash. There will be many who refuse, which will degenerate into insults, and so to contempt, which is an offense, followed by police custody, with the families outside the police station. It will take on enormous proportions. Already now, there are guidelines in some areas to hold off to avoid explosions, a policeman told Rue 89. This is what happens in the suburbs (banlieus) with the drug traffickers, clarifies Frédéric Lagache. Provoking public disorder helps them maintain their territory.

He says that if the law is passed, women who wear the veil will be manipulated by fundamentalist associations and movements. They will pass a message to create an incident and to deliberately cause trouble. Concerned about the eventual application of such a law, its consequences and the defense of his colleagues, Frédéric Lagache responds with one word: [good] judgment. To protest these women, but also to protect law enforcement agents from possible excessive actions.

Source: Le Monde (French)

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