Ernest Chénière, former principal of the Gabriel Havez college in Oise, remembers the day when he refused three veiled high school girls entry into his establishment. After 15 years of debate, the law banning ostentatious religious symbols in schools was promulgated on March 15, 2004.
“All of France was really moved by this affair,” he recalls. According to a survey published this week, 78% of French people consider, like the Prime Minister, that secularism is threatened in France.