All citizens must wear a mask — but women in face-covering Islamic garb could be punished.
I am no defender of the niqaab or the burqa (though I have no problem with the hijab or Jewish/Christian veils), and I don’t think that the criticisms of these garments should be labelled as “Islamophobia”.
That notwithstanding, the government has no business punishing people for particular clothing unless they violate codes of public decency (surely a far more pressing problem than extreme modesty).
There are valid cultural and social reasons for disagreeing with these forms of dress (or at least the cultural behaviour associated with it), but that doesn’t mean the state should overstep its powers in this fashion. France, and the other countries which have followed, are wrong on this one.
