France’s interior minister defended on Monday a ban on women wearing full-face veils in public after a police check on a Muslim woman caused two days of rioting near Paris, Reuters reported.
“Police did their job perfectly,” Interior Minister Manuel Valls told RTL radio. “The law banning full-face veils is a law in the interests of women and against those values having nothing to do with our traditions and values. It must be enforced everywhere.”
A police check on a couple in the southwest suburb of Trappes provoked an angry protest overnight Friday at a police station, which was surrounded by several hundred people and pelted with rocks, Reuters reported. Another building was torched and six people were arrested. Two more were arrested on Sunday as demonstrators chucked firecrackers at officers from rooftops, Reuters reported.
France has Europe’s largest Muslim population, but only between 400 and 2,000 women wear the veil and only a handful have been ordered to pay a fine for wearing it, Reuters said.
• Jessica Chasmar can be reached at jchasmar@washingtontimes.com.
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