Sarkozy Says Burqas Are Unwelcome in France
Paul | July 2nd, 2009 | No Comments »By SUSANA FERREIRA and DAVID GAUTHIER-VILLARS in Paris JUNE 23, 2009 President Nicolas Sarkozy took sides in a growing debate on the burqa, a head-to-toe garment that is worn by some Muslim women and that conceals their faces, saying it isn’t a religious symbol but "a sign of enslavement and debasement" of women. "The burqa is not welcome on French territory," Mr. Sarkozy said. "In our country, we cannot accept that women be prisoners behind a screen, cut off from all social life, deprived of all identity." Mr. Sarkozy, who was addressing a joint session of the French Parliament at Versailles — the first French president to address the legislature in more than a century — also pledged further government investment to help the country out of its recession. Almost halfway through his five-year term, Mr. Sarkozy is struggling to deliver on his electoral pledge to downsize the French
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