Veil Ripped off in French 'Burka Rage'

Women come to blows in clothing store
By Mary Papenfuss,  Newser Staff
Posted May 19, 2010 3:30 AM CDT
Veil Ripped off in French 'Burka Rage'
Two women came to blows after one of them made 'snide remarks' about the other's veil.   (Getty Images)

The first known case of "Burka rage" has erupted in France where a furious female lawyer ripped the veil from a Muslim woman in a clothing store in the town of Trignac. The lawyer made "snide remarks" about the other shopper's burka and said she couldn't wait until France enacted a burka ban now winding through the legislature, according to cops. The attorney compared burka-wearers to the fictional French horror demon Belphegor, who haunts the Louvre and wears a black face mask to hide his hideous features.

Suddenly, the women were scuffling, and the veil ripped off, reports the Telegraph. The store owners broke up the pair, and they were hauled in by cops. The Muslim woman has accused the lawyer of racial and religious assault, and the attorney has accused her fighting partner of assault. The veil ban measure before the French legislature declares burkas and other forms of Islamic dress to be "an affront to the nation's values." Such a ban has already been enacted in Belgium. Critics say the bill unfairly targets women, who are often ordered to wear the veil by their husbands.
(More burka stories.)

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