ISTANBUL, Dec 8 (AFP) - Demonstrators gathered outside the German consulate here on Wednesday to protest a ban by some German authorities on the wearing of Islamic headscarves by teachers in state schools.
About two dozen protesters, mainly women wearing headscarves, condemned what they said was an attack on liberty of expression and oppression which had crept in to Turkey and which had now spread to Germany and France.
"It is unacceptable that on the one hand Germany claims to defend human rights and the supremacy of the rule of law, while on the other it brings in such laws," said Yuce Yimazoglu, representing the Association of the Oppressed organisation, called Mazlum-Der.
She added that the laws ran counter to the concept of freedom of conscience.
Bavaria, a staunchly Roman Catholic region in southern Germany, in November became the fifth German region to pass a law banning the wearing of Islamic headscarves by teachers in schools.
Last year the German constitutional council, having been called upon to adjudicate on a headscarf ban in schools, decided to leave the 16 regional states, which have autonomy in questions of education, to decide for themselves.
Turkey, which is 99 percent Muslim but which has a secular constitution, bans the wearing of headscarves in the civil service, schools and universities.
France forbids the wearing of conspicuous religious insignia, such as Islamic headscarves for girls, Jewish skullcaps or Sikh turbans for boys, and large Christian crosses in state schools, colleges and universities.
12/08/2004 12:08 GMT - AFP