Having argued repeatedly (see the links here) against the legal ban on face coverings in France and elsewhere, I am encouraged by one element in this report (£) about a 31-year-old mother ('Hind') who is 'determined to flout the ban'. She says it is 'an infringement of my freedom of conscience'; and that 'many of the 2,000 women estimated to wear a burka or niqab in France do not go out any more'. It is a piece of illiberalism on a par with the new British law I've drawn attention to recently, that forces immigrants to learn English.
This is the element to take encouragement from:
A total of 104 women have been stopped by police for concealing their faces in public, according to official figures, but only one €75 (£65) fine has been issued, according to Rachid Nekkaz, a member of the opposition Socialist Party who is campaigning to repeal the law. Most other offenders were warned and some summoned to appear in court in the autumn.
Supporters of the ban say the absence of fines illustrates its success. It has dissuaded Muslim women from wearing face-covering veils and served to reaffirm French secular values, they claim. But Mr Nekkaz said that police were reluctant to impose fines. "That's because the authorities are afraid of looking ridiculous," he said.
It may be that officers cannot be bothered with a procedure that entails considerable paperwork for an offence that carries a maximum fine of €150.
While Hind posed for photographs four police cars drove past. None stopped. "It's always the same," said Hind, who is the daughter of Moroccan immigrants. "The police try not to look at me."
If the law were to remain largely unenforced, then the issue of women covering their faces or not covering their faces in public becomes a matter of discussion and persuasion. Which is how it should have been left anyway.
