France.. Macron orders a ban on abayas in schools, and about 300 Muslim students are defying him

Yesterday, Thursday, the Council of State in France ruled the legality of banning the abaya in schools. The Council stated: “The highest French court that hears complaints against government authorities, and rejected a request submitted by an association to issue a judicial order against the ban imposed by the government last August, stressing that it does not constitute discrimination against Muslims.

Last Tuesday, the State Council began studying the legality of the decision to ban the wearing of the abaya in educational institutions due to its controversial religious nature, which was taken by the French government based on the principle of the secularity of the state.

The Action for Muslim Rights (ADM) had submitted an urgent request to the Council of State, France’s highest administrative court for complaints against state authorities, to issue an injunction against the ban on the abaya and long shirt for men.

For her part, about 300 Muslim students in French schools defied the ban announced by the authorities last week, and attended their schools wearing the abaya.

French Education Minister Gabriel Atal said, on Tuesday, in an interview with Radio Monte Carlo “RMC”, that 67 Muslim students refused to remove their abayas in schools.

He stressed that “in the new academic season that began on Monday, and despite the new decision, 298 students arrived at schools in various regions of the country wearing the abaya, 67 of whom refused to give it up.”

It is noteworthy that French President Emmanuel Mamron confirmed, on Friday, that the French authorities “will not be complacent” in implementing the new ban on gowns in schools. Speaking to reporters after visiting a school in the Vaucluse region in southern France, he also stated that “religious symbols of any kind have no place in French schools under the system of secularism.”