Frenchwoman convicted for resisting police crackdown on her banned Muslim veil
PARIS – A French court has convicted a woman for insulting police who ticketed her for wearing a face-covering Muslim veil, banned by French law.
The confrontation between Cassandra Belin, her husband and police triggered riots in the Paris suburb of Trappes last year.
Her lawyer, Philippe Bataille, says Belin was fined 150 euros and given a one-month suspended sentence Wednesday.
The lawyer also argued that the veil law is unconstitutional, and asked for it to be sent to the constitutional Court. The lower Paris court Wednesday threw out that request.
Police sporadically ticket women who wear the veil, banned since 2011. The riots in Trappes reflected tensions between police upholding France’s strict policies of secularism and those who accuse authorities of discriminating against France’s No. 2 religion.
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