A poll released this week suggests that six in ten French people would support the government banning the Islamic veil in public spaces, a policy favoured by Presidential election hopeful Marine Le Pen.
The poll, which was conducted by the CSA Institute, was published on Thursday and reveals that 60 per cent of respondents were favourable to banning the Islamic veil in public spaces, with only 16 per cent of those surveyed saying they were entirely against a ban.
Men were more likely to support the ban on the Islamic veil with 65 per cent agreeing with the proposal, compared to 56 per cent of women. In terms of age groups, those over 65 were the most likely back the proposal, while people aged 18 to 24 were less likely but a majority still agreed with the ban, CNews reports.
A recent study in France from the Paris School of Economics has offered evidence that would appear to support potentially positive outcomes from a headscarf ban in public. Researching the impact of the Islamic garment being banned by France in schools from the 1990s, the paper reported the order was: “followed by a significant improvement in the academic performance of female students in the Muslim group.”
During Wednesday’s debate between Presiden Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen ahead of the second round of the French presidential elections this weekend, the topic of a possible ban on the Islamic veil was mentioned.
“I am in favour of banning the veil in public spaces. The veil is a uniform imposed by the Islamists, a large part of the young women who put it on cannot do otherwise in reality, even if they do not dare to say it. We must release all these women and for that, we must ban the veil in public spaces,” Le Pen said.
President Macron, however, was against such a move, saying, “The question of the veil is the question of religion. I am for the law of 1905, it is our Republic. The Republic is secular. Secularism is not about fighting a religion.”
“With me, there will be no ban on the headscarf, nor the kippah nor any religious symbol, in the public space. The principle of equality is that if you enter into this logic Madame Le Pen, you will ban all religious symbols in public spaces and not just the headscarf,” Macron added.
Earlier this month while campaigning ahead of the first round of the presidential election, President Macron praised a woman wearing an Islamic veil as a “feminist” but decried French people who were against Wuhan coronavirus lockdowns saying they were not living in the “real world.”