PARIS, Feb. 3 (UPI) -- The first of three days of debate began Tuesday in the French parliament over the proposed ban of headscarves and other religious symbols in public schools.
Some 140 members of the 577-seat lower house signed up to speak, an unusually high number for pending legislation, the BBC reported.
The law would ban Islamic headscarves, large crosses, skullcaps and perhaps also Sikh turbans in state schools. President Jacques Chirac has said the ban is necessary to preserve the national principle of secularity -- separating religion from the state.
The law would take effect at the beginning of the new school year in September.
Polls indicate most French people support a ban on headscarves, but the proposal has outraged some Muslims and other religious communities.
Protests against the suggested ban have been held around France and at French missions around the world.
