Muslim Official in France Removed from Polling Station Over Headscarf Controversy

"A woman entered polling station number 15 of the Jean-Jaurès school, of which I was the president. She insulted me, calling me an ’Islamist’ because I was wearing a headscarf. The control commission that had come to check the proper functioning of the polling station had not reproached me for wearing a headscarf. One of the assessors was wearing a typical French beret! Everything was going wonderfully until this incident," Kabbouri recounts, shocked.

However, the Val-de-Marne prefecture says it has recorded "several reports" of complaints from voters through its services, which led it to consult the Electoral Code to know how to proceed, reports Le Parisien. According to the text, a polling station president, as a representative of the State, delegated by the mayor to play an essential role in the conduct of the election, must show neutrality, and therefore must not wear any conspicuous religious symbol. On the other hand, "the assessors, for their part, are not subject to this neutrality, because they are appointed by the candidates," specifies the prefecture.

"The prefect therefore forced the mayor of Vitry to relieve me of my position as president and to swap me with the oldest assessor. The mayor apologized for this aberration, very embarrassed by an incoherent situation. This sends us back the idea that French citizens from diversity will always remain the servants on duty!" indignantly Rachida Kabbouri. "As a representative of the State, she could not wear the headscarf. We had asked the question, but we had not had the same interpretation as the prefecture. The situation was very upsetting for Kabbouri, it was hard for her. I salute her republican spirit, because she accepted to swap roles and said nothing," declares for his part Pierre Bell-Lloch, the PCF mayor of Vitry.

"If they blame me for the headscarf, then let them ban men’s beards and have them come clean-shaven since the beard is said to be a religious sign!" Rachida Kabbouri, who is also president of the association Les 2L which promotes gender equality and fights against discrimination and violence against women, was outraged on Monday. And to add: "On Sunday, I felt injustice and exclusion to the point of tears, it grabs you in the guts like a blow dealt by surprise. Worse than Macron’s slap, because he at least keeps his job..."