French Senate approves controversial headscarf ban bill

By Yusuf Ozcan

PARIS (AA) - French Senate approved on Wednesday a controversial bill banning mothers of children from wearing Muslim headscarf during school trips.

A total of 163 senators voted in favor of the bill while 114 voted against.

The bill also needs to be approved by the National Assembly, to enter into effect.

But as the ruling party, The Republic on the Move -- which has a majority in the national assembly -- is against the bill, it is unlikely that the bill will be approved.

Earlier this month, French far-right lawmaker Julien Odoul had requested from a Muslim woman to take off her veil in a meeting in eastern Besancon and attacked her verbally.

After the incident, the issue sparked discussions and statements targeting Muslims, that have risen recently.

On Monday, an 84-year-old man has been arrested after he shot and wounded two people seriously while they were praying at a mosque in the southern French city of Bayonne.

The attacker was a former soldier and had ran in local elections a few years ago for Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Front Party, which has been renamed as National Rally.

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Oct. 24: "Wearing of headscarf in public spaces is not my business, however, in public services, at school and while educating children, headscarf issue is my business. That is what secularism is about".

In an open letter to Macron published on Oct. 15 in Le Monde daily, 90 academics, directors, actors and journalists had called the president to condemn the attack of Odoul against the Muslim woman.

* Writing by Fatih Hafiz Mehmet in Ankara