Excerpt:
Emmanuel Macron has declared he is not particularly “happy” that some Muslim women wear headscarves or face-concealing veils in public as he admitted the Islamic garments should be “tolerated” in a tell-all interview on French TV.
Emmanuel Macron said France was committed to gender equality, and that the headscarf debate was part of the ongoing battle against the oppression of women.
Mr Macron said: “I am not especially happy that some [Muslim] women choose to wear the headscarf when out in public, but it must be tolerated.”
France adheres to a strict and unique brand of secularism, the philosophy of laïcité, which is designed to keep religion out of public life.