French Muslim Woman Defies Burka Ban...Incites Riot and Assaults Cops

AFP -- A French Muslim woman has been charged with assault and inciting a riot after she refused a police ID check because she was wearing a banned full-face veil, a police source said Tuesday.

The 18-year-old is to appear in court in the northern city of Lille on October 30 charged with assault, insulting police and inciting a riot after police tried to take her to a station for refusing to provide identification.

A French law passed in 2011, the first of its kind to be enforced in Europe, banned the wearing of the full-face-covering Islamic veil.

The law came into effect at an already fraught moment in relations between the state and France's Muslim minority -- the largest in Europe -- with then president Nicolas Sarkozy accused of stigmatising Islam to win back votes from a resurgent far right in this year's election.

Supporters of the law have defended it as a measure aimed at supporting women's rights although the text makes it clear that a woman cannot choose herself to cover her face in public.

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