Burqas not a major problem - police

LESS than 370 women in France wear a burqa according to a police security agency estimation.

The figure, quoted in today's Le Monde newspaper comes less than a month after MPs created a commission to look at banning the dress in France.

According to the Direction centrale du renseignement intérieur (DCRI), security agency, only 367 women wear the burqa - an Islamic dress which covers the body from head to toe leaving only a gap to see through.

A spokesman for the DCRI said the figure had been produced quickly and would be followed by a longer, more in-depth study.

The study also found that the majority of those wearing the burqa were aged under 30 and a quarter of them were French converts to Islam.

A similar report by the agency the sous-direction de l'information générale (SDIG) also highlighted that, for French converts, wearing the burqa was a gesture designed to provoke reactions.

The SDIG study concluded that most Muslims did not like the burqa and saw its defenders as a "cult."

Nonetheless, many muslims leaders have voiced concern at the possibility of a law to ban the burqa.

The commission investigating the burqa and attitudes to it will report back at the end of the year.

Photo:Yanboechat