France starts ban on full-face veil

PARIS (Reuters) - France's ban on full face veils, a first in Europe, went into force on Monday, making anyone wearing the Muslim niqab or burqa in public liable to a fine of 150 euros (133 pounds) or lessons in French citizenship.

The centre-right government, which pushed the law through parliament in October, rolled out a public relations campaign with posters, pamphlets and an official web site to explain the ban and how it will be enforced.

Guidelines in the pamphlet forbid police from asking women to remove their burqa or full-face veil in the street. They will instead be escorted to a police station and asked to remove the veil there for identification.

Mainstream Muslim groups, which had won a six-month grace period after the law was passed to explain it to their supporters, overwhelmingly abstained from protesting against the ban.

"We've already had our debate about the law and now our position is clear: we respect French law 100 percent," said a spokesman for the French Council of the Muslim Faith.

Widely criticised by Muslims abroad as impinging on their religious freedom, the law has provoked a limited backlash in France where a strict separation of church and state is seen as central to maintaining a peaceful civil society.

But President Nicolas Sarkozy, whose poll ratings are at record lows a year before a general election, has been accused more generally of stigmatising Muslims to boost his support among far-right voters ahead of the vote.

"It's so stupid what they've done with this law because now people will wear the (full-face veil) not out of faith but because they are looking for a confrontation," said Hager Amer, a 27-year-old woman, wearing black jeans and a black zip top.

CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE