French veil-wearer to be sentenced

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MARSEILLE, France, Sept. 7 (UPI) -- A woman who admitted biting a Marseille, France, police officer after she was ordered to remove her veil in public will face sentencing, court documents show.

In a case attracting national attention in France, where laws prohibit the wearing of full-face veils in public places, Louise-Marie Suisse, 18, said in court Thursday she refused to remove the full veil from her head July 25.

The incident outside a mosque in central Marseille provoked the gathering of a crowd and police reinforcements. In the melee that followed, Suisse bit a police officer, the French news agency The Local.fr reported Friday.

Suisse, who appeared in court in a traditional Muslim head scarf but without a veil, admitted biting the officer but said she was thrown to the ground and he put his hand over her mouth.

A separate investigation into police behavior has begun and the bitten police officer will seek damages, the news agency reported.

The prosecutor in the case requested a six-month suspended sentence for Suisse, court documents said. Sentencing was scheduled for Sept. 20.