´óÏó´«Ã½

« Previous | Main | Next »

On air at 1100gmt: Should you embrace the culture of the country you live in?

Ben Allen | 15:19 UK time, Tuesday, 5 April 2011

From today women in France are banned from covering their face in public. It has been brought in to stop Muslim women wearing a face-concealing veil such as the niqab or burqa. They can be stopped by police and given a fine.

Writing in an official government newspaper explaining the law the French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said, "The French Republic lives in a bare-headed fashion,"

The fine is more symbolic than anything else, a 150 euro fine, that's £133, $217. However people forcing women to wear the veil face a much larger fine and a prison sentence of up to two years.

If you want to join the discussion, you can call country code 44 20 70 83 72 72, text country code 44 77 86 20 60 80, email us, or post here. Thanks for taking part.


´óÏó´«Ã½ iD

´óÏó´«Ã½ navigation

´óÏó´«Ã½ © 2014 The ´óÏó´«Ã½ is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read more.

This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets (CSS) enabled. While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience. Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets (CSS) if you are able to do so.