Washington Post
July 14, 2010
The French Parliament's lower house passed sweeping but constitutionally vulnerable legislation Tuesday that would bar women from wearing full-face Islamic veils in public.
The measure, which the National Assembly approved 335 to 1, is scheduled for a vote in the Senate in September. Tuesday's action makes France the second Western European nation, after Belgium, to move toward banning what has become the most prominent symbol of the growing Muslim presence across a continent steeped in traditions of secularism and Christianity.
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