The French Senate, which is the highest chamber in the French Parliament, approved a new amendment within the so-called “separatism law”, according to which it is forbidden to wear the headscarf for those accompanying students during school trips.
Republicans and all of the deputies belonging to the European Social Democratic Assembly succeeded in passing the amendment by 177 votes, compared to 141 votes against the amendment.
A member of the French Senate, Max Bresson, considered the approval of the amendment as “defending the neutrality of the French school and the neutrality of those accompanying students,” and “respecting the values of the republic based on the secularism of the French state.”
Representatives supporting the amendment confirmed on their social media pages that its approval by the French Senate puts an end to the ambiguity associated with this issue, and the adoption of a solution based on “complete neutrality and the non-inclusion of Islamic symbols during school trips.”
Meanwhile, opposition deputies considered this new amendment as a “continuation and culmination of the state and society’s adoption of what they call (the separatism law), which is based on confronting all religious manifestations and symbols, including the veil and the burkini dress.”
It is not the first time that France has adopted such laws, which mishandle Muslim communities, and in other European countries, where restrictions on Muslims are escalating in parallel with the rising tide of the extreme right.
