Veil restrictions

A FRENCH parliamentary panel will stop short of recommending a ban on face-covering veils in the street and, instead, will ask for the garb to be banned in public facilities such as hospitals, the panel’s president says.

The 32-member panel’s report due today culminates a six-month inquiry into the wearing of all-encompassing veils that began after President Nicolas Sarkozy said in June that they are “not welcome” on French territory.

Andre Gerin, a Com-munist lawmaker who heads the multiparty panel, said the report contains a “multitude of proposals” to ban such garb in places like schools, hospitals and other public buildings, but not private buildings or on the street.