Nearly 300 students in abaya refused to remove it on

Nearly 300 students in abaya refused to remove it on Monday. 67 of them refused to remove it

Nearly 300 students showed up at school on Monday in their abayas despite the ban, Education Minister Gabriel Attal said on Tuesday, saying 67 of them refused to take them off.

“There are young girls who showed up at their school yesterday (Monday) in abayas, I think there were a little less than 300,298 people,” he explained on BFMTV-RMC. “A very large majority complied” with the ban, but “67 did not agree” to lift it and “returned home.”

“In the coming days they will come back because they need to be enlightened and we will see whether they have followed the rule or not, otherwise there will be a new dialogue,” continued Mr. Attal, specifying that he mostly done by high school sophomores.

“We also gave them a letter to their families explaining that secularism is not a compulsion but a freedom,” he added. “Explain to them that the school does not stigmatize anyone, that their child has his place in the school of the Republic and that the rules and especially the rules of secularism must be applied so that everyone has his place in the school of the Republic.”

The government last week announced a ban in schools on this long garment worn by women, whose religious nature has long been the subject of debate.

The ban, which also applies to the wearing of the qamis, the male version of the abaya, was the subject of a summary hearing before the Council of State.

This request to lift this ban, submitted on Friday on behalf of the Action Droits des Musulmans (ADM) association, will be considered this Tuesday at 3 p.m.

Asked on Monday evening about the issue of the abaya, Emmanuel Macron mentioned the murder of Samuel Paty to explain the context of the government’s decision to ban the wearing of this long garment at school.

“We also live in our society with a minority, people who hijack a religion to challenge the republic and secularism,” said the head of state in an interview on the YouTuber HugoDécrypte channel.

“I do not make any comparison” between acts of terrorism and the clothing of young Muslim girls, assured Emmanuel Macron. “I’m just telling you that the question of secularism in our school is a deep question.”