Students at an elite Paris university sparked bitter debate Wednesday by inviting classmates to wear the Muslim veil for a day in a bid to demystify a practice viewed as highly divisive in France. Students at Sciences Po urged women to take part in Hijab Day "if you too think all women should have the right to dress as they wish and have their choice respected". France is grappling with rising Islamophobia, and the students' Facebook page said that those agreeing to put on the veil would "experience the stigmatisation experienced by veiled women in France". The page lashed out at Prime Minister Manuel Valls who earlier this month said the veil was being used as a political symbol for the "enslavement of women". His comments came after the minister for women's rights sparked a furore last month when she compared veiled women to "negroes who accepted slavery". France has banned the full-face veil in public places, and Valls said the headscarf was being used by some as a challenge to France's prized secular society. The Sciences Po initiative, which trended at the top of French Twitter under the hashtag #HijabDay. A feminist group on campus, Politique'elles, threw its full support behind the move. "Whatever they wear, whether a miniskirt or a veil, (women) are criticised," a group statement said. "Feminism must remain universal to defend all women, independent of their religion, origin or social class."
