Excerpt:
A debate organised by "Ni putes ni soumises", a French NGO, Tuesday night in Paris, on the question of the full Islamic veil ended in an exchange of insults and blows. Meanwhile, meeting in Paris Wednesday, French ministers paved the way for a draft law that seeks to ban the wearing of the burqa in France.
French NGO "Ni Putes Ni Soumises" had planned a public debate on the eve of the presentation of the draft law that seeks a complete ban on the burqa, the full Islamic veil. However, pro-burqa supporters, who the police have failed to identify, violently thwarted the NGO's efforts.
Fiercely opposed to the wearing of the burqa, Ni Putes Ni Soumises intended to use the opportunity to develop a common front against the wearing of the veil in France.
The one hundred plus people who gathered at the debate premises, — a primary school in Montreuil a Parisian suburb,— was made up of diverse groups including women, feminists, politicians, Islamists, some women wearing the simple veil and some wearing the full veil.