Report finds 2,000 women wear burqa
Figure is six times higher than police estimate, but parliamentary commission says more research still needs to be done
ABOUT 2,000 women in France wear full Muslim dress in public according to the Interior Ministry – six times more than police had estimated.
The figures are contained in a confidential report on the burqa, seen by Le Figaro.
In July, the police security agency DCRI published its own data claiming only 367 women in France wore the Islamic dress, which covers the body from head to toe leaving only a gap to see through.
A parliamentary commission has been set up to investigate attitudes to the burqa and consider the case for banning it in France. It is due to report back by the end of the year.
The commission’s president André Gerin – a former mayor in the Lyon suburb of Vénisseux – said the latest figures from the Interior Ministry were “reasonable but still an underestimate” and has called for more research to be done.
He said the police figure of 367 was “completely absurd”, adding: “We have that many in and around Lyon alone.”
Gerin believes there might be a case for banning the burqa to protect those who wear it from racist attacks.
“We have to be firm in France and say a clear ‘no’ to fundamentalism,” he added.
