Devil Soul
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France's lower house of parliament has approved a ban on wearing the Islamic full veil in public.
It must now be ratified by the Senate in September to become law.
Opinion polls suggest the ban has overwhelming public support but critics point out that only a tiny minority of French Muslims wear the full veil.
President Nicolas Sarkozy supports the bill as part of a debate on French identity but critics say the government is pandering to far-right voters.
The vote is being closely watched in other countries, the BBC's Christian Fraser reports from the French capital Paris.
Spain and Belgium are debating similar legislation, and with such large-scale immigration in the past 20 or 30 years, identity has become a popular theme across Europe, our correspondent says.
'Open-faced democracy'
The bill would make it illegal to wear the niqab or burka anywhere in public.
It envisages fines of 150 euros (£119) for women who break the law and 30,000 euros and a one-year jail term for men who force their wives to wear the burka.
The niqab and burka are widely seen in France as threats to women's rights and the secular nature of the state.
Parliament passed a resolution in May describing the wearing of the full veil as an "attack on dignity and equality between men and women", and "contrary to the values of the [French] Republic".
"Democracy thrives when it is open-faced," Justice Minister Michele Alliot-Marie told the National Assembly when she presented the bill last week.
She stressed the bill, which makes no reference to Islam or veils, was not aimed at "stigmatising or singling out a religion".
Berengere Poletti, an MP from Mr Sarkozy's centre-right UMP party, said women in full veils wore "a sign of alienation on their faces" and had to be "liberated".
Andre Gerin of the Communist opposition compared the veil to "a walking coffin, a muzzle".
'Fear of foreigners'
The bill is also seen as a touchstone for the Sarkozy administration's policy of integration as it grapples with disaffected immigrant communities, seeking to prevent a repeat of the mass unrest of 2005 on run-down Parisian housing estates.
But critics point to government studies showing that many women do not fit the stereotype of marginalised, oppressed women.
There are estimated to be only about 2,000 women wearing the full veil in France though the bill is opposed by many of France's five million Muslims.
Jean Glavany, a Socialist MP, said he opposed the ban on the grounds that it was "nothing more than the fear of those who are different, who come from abroad, who aren't like us, who don't share our values".
If the bill passes the Senate in September, it will be sent immediately to France's Constitutional Council watchdog for a ruling.
Another challenge is possible at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, where decisions are binding.
In another development, a French businessman, Rachid Nekkaz, said he would set up a 1m-euro fund to help women pay fines imposed under the new law.
A ban in the street would violate constitutional principles, he argued.
BBC News - French MPs vote to ban Islamic full veil in public
It must now be ratified by the Senate in September to become law.
Opinion polls suggest the ban has overwhelming public support but critics point out that only a tiny minority of French Muslims wear the full veil.
President Nicolas Sarkozy supports the bill as part of a debate on French identity but critics say the government is pandering to far-right voters.
The vote is being closely watched in other countries, the BBC's Christian Fraser reports from the French capital Paris.
Spain and Belgium are debating similar legislation, and with such large-scale immigration in the past 20 or 30 years, identity has become a popular theme across Europe, our correspondent says.
'Open-faced democracy'
The bill would make it illegal to wear the niqab or burka anywhere in public.
It envisages fines of 150 euros (£119) for women who break the law and 30,000 euros and a one-year jail term for men who force their wives to wear the burka.
The niqab and burka are widely seen in France as threats to women's rights and the secular nature of the state.
Parliament passed a resolution in May describing the wearing of the full veil as an "attack on dignity and equality between men and women", and "contrary to the values of the [French] Republic".
"Democracy thrives when it is open-faced," Justice Minister Michele Alliot-Marie told the National Assembly when she presented the bill last week.
She stressed the bill, which makes no reference to Islam or veils, was not aimed at "stigmatising or singling out a religion".
Berengere Poletti, an MP from Mr Sarkozy's centre-right UMP party, said women in full veils wore "a sign of alienation on their faces" and had to be "liberated".
Andre Gerin of the Communist opposition compared the veil to "a walking coffin, a muzzle".
'Fear of foreigners'
The bill is also seen as a touchstone for the Sarkozy administration's policy of integration as it grapples with disaffected immigrant communities, seeking to prevent a repeat of the mass unrest of 2005 on run-down Parisian housing estates.
But critics point to government studies showing that many women do not fit the stereotype of marginalised, oppressed women.
There are estimated to be only about 2,000 women wearing the full veil in France though the bill is opposed by many of France's five million Muslims.
Jean Glavany, a Socialist MP, said he opposed the ban on the grounds that it was "nothing more than the fear of those who are different, who come from abroad, who aren't like us, who don't share our values".
If the bill passes the Senate in September, it will be sent immediately to France's Constitutional Council watchdog for a ruling.
Another challenge is possible at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, where decisions are binding.
In another development, a French businessman, Rachid Nekkaz, said he would set up a 1m-euro fund to help women pay fines imposed under the new law.
A ban in the street would violate constitutional principles, he argued.
BBC News - French MPs vote to ban Islamic full veil in public
