France

Less than 400 women in France wear burqa, says police report

Article published on the 2009-07-30 Latest update 2009-10-27 10:25 TU

Muslim women wearing a Niqab (L) and Burqas (C and R) in India (L) and Afghanistan (C and R).
(Photo: AFP)

French intelligence services have found only 367 women in France wear the all-covering Muslim garments known as the burka and the niqab. Public controversy over the dress has led to a parliamentary committee to discuss how to react to it.

Controversy sparked by Communist Party MP François Gérin, who described burkas as "walking prisons", has led to parliamentary debate and two reports drawn up by different branches of the intelligence services.

Both reports, made public by Le Monde, warn that these are preliminary reports and that the figures are not definitive.

The anti-terror internal security force DCRI, among whose duties is tracking Islamic fringe groups, concludes that most women who wear either garment do so voluntarily and are very religious.

Another branch of the services, the SDIG, which keeps tabs on open political and religious groups, concluded that the women adopted the dress to provoke society, even their families, because of their sympathy for hardline Salafist Islam.

The reports cite the example of a group of 15 women who appeared on the first day of June sales in a shopping centre in Marseille but did not make a single purchase.

A large majority of the women are under 30, according to the studies which say that most live in major urban centres, notably around Paris and Marseille and that 26 per cent are converts to Islam.

The SDIG notes that most French Muslims oppose the burqa and the niqab and fear that the debate over it will "stigmatise" their religion. Al Qaeda has threatened to attack France over threats to ban the burqa.

Gérin described the police's estimate as "ridiculous".