PARIS: Muslim voters are increasingly worried about the prospect of a far-right victory less than two weeks before France´s snap parliamentary elections, fearing the possible restrictions that could follow.
For Sarah, there´s a “real risk” of seeing the National Rally (RN) win the ballot, called by President Emmanuel Macron after the far-right party trounced his centrists in early June´s EU elections.
The 23-year-old member of a Muslim women´s collective told AFP that would give the party of Marine Le Pen free rein to pass laws restricting her freedoms in matters of dress and worship.
The RN has made no secret of its hostility to ritual slaughter, which would effectively ban halal and kosher meat. A bill it tabled in 2021 called for bans on “Islamist ideologies” and on the wearing of headscarves in all public places.
The current law prohibits the wearing of headscarves in public schools, and bans the wearing of full-face veils, such as the burqa, in public. The centrist government of Macron also banned the wearing in schools of the abaya gown worn by many Muslim women from this school year.
Appearing on French TV this week, RN party leader Jordan Bardella said it wanted to ban the wearing of the Muslim headscarf in public, describing the hijab “as a tool of discrimination between men and women and not desirable in our society.”
Men prepare an underground bunker in Athmuqam village at the LoC— AFP/FileNEW DELHI: As tensions intensify between...
In this handout photograph taken and released by the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry on April 26, 2025, Ukraine’s...
Nigerien soldiers stand guard as supporters of Niger's coup leaders gather for a demonstration in Niamey on Aug. 11,...
Protesting university students gather to organize a march one month after the arrest of Istanbul Metropolitan Mayor...
Canada's Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre . — AFP/FileMONTREAL: Canadian leaders campaigned in battleground...
Lawyer David Boies arrives with his client Virginia Giuffre for hearing in the criminal case against Jeffrey Epstein,...