French Veil Ban

The French Parliamentary committee proposed a partial veil ban yesterday. The Commission’s report claims that "The wearing of the full veil is a challenge to our republic. This is unacceptable. We must condemn this excess."
The proposal is to ban burqas in hospitals, schools, government offices and on public transport. Women defying the ban are to be denied public services.
The ban’s proponents claim to be acting in the cause of equality: they pronounce that the burqa is “the symbol of the repression of women” and “is a denial of the equality between men and women and a rejection of co-existence side-by-side.”

The irony of fighting repression with a ban seems to have escaped notice. I will have more to say on this topic later.