JURIST - Paper Chase: Turkish PM connects French headscarf ban with rioting

[JURIST] Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan [BBC profile] linked France's ban on the hijab [JURIST report; JURIST news archive] in public schools to the country's recent rioting [JURIST report], in an interview Monday with the Turkish newspaper Milliyet [media website, in Turkish]. Erdogan blamed feelings of exclusion for stirring racial tensions and encouraging the violence which has resulted in more than 1,000 arrests, 36 police injuries, and one death since the riots began on October 27. The riots originated in suburban Paris among disaffected youths, primarily of Muslim or African descent, but have spread to nearly 300 towns [AP report]. In response to the violence, the Union for Islamic Organizations of France [organization website, in French], France's largest Muslim fundamentalist organization, has issued a fatwa forbidding those "who seek divine grace from taking part in any action that blindly strikes private or public property or can harm others." AFP has more. Le Monde has local coverage (in French) of the rioting.

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