From USAToday ...
French shopper allegedly rips veil off Muslim woman in 'burqa rage' brawl
Three people have been arrested in France in the first case of "burqa rage" in which a woman allegedly ripped the veil off a Muslim woman while shopping, The Telegraph reports.
The French parliament has banned burqas and other forms of face-covering Islamic dress in public places as "an affront to the nation''s values," but the law does not take effect until fall. Belgium has passed a similar law.
The British newspaper says the mêlée erupted after a 26-year-old Muslim convert was walking through a store in the western Loire-Atlantique region and overheard another shopper, who is a lawyer, making "snide remarks about her black burqa."
"The lawyer said she was not happy seeing a fellow shopper wearing a veil and wanted the ban introduced as soon as possible," the Telegraph police as saying.
After the pair exchanged heated words, the newspaper says, the 60-year-old lawyer allegedly "ripped the other woman's veil off."
As the two came to blows, the lawyer's daughter allegedly joined the brawl.
A spokesman for Trignac police said the Muslim woman accused the lawyer of racial and religious assault and the lawyer accused her of common assault, the newspaper reports.
Meanwhile, in Vienna, Muslims attending a weekend conference criticized European countries for considering the possibility of banning face-covering veils, saying it is counterproductive and regressive, the Associated Press reports.
As of 2005, Muslims make up almost 10% of France's population -- the largest in Western Europe.
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