According to some, the trend of modern hijab bans across the European Union truly began in earnest around December 2003 when then-French President Jacques Chirac called for the passing of a federal law which would effectively ban religious "dress or symbols" which conspicuously showed any religious affiliation within all public schools in France. "I believe that the wearing of dress or symbols that conspicuously show religious affiliation should be banned in schools," Chirac told an audience of four hundred guests during a live nationally-televised broadcast from the Élysée Palace in Paris. "The Islamic veil—whatever name we give it—the [Jewish] yarmulke and a cross that is of plainly excessive dimensions: these have no place inside public schools," he continued. … A French public opinion poll at the time found that 69 percent of the French public supported this ban. Chirac's ban was also supported across the political spectrum, with 75 percent of right-wing voters and 66 percent of left-wing voters both in favor of the legislation. This poll also found that 58 percent of French people polled stated that they opposed the creation of new school holidays for Jews and Muslims in France as well.

XREF: Connects to broader discussions of secularism (laïcité) in France and European religious dress regulation.

Arsalan Iftikhar, Fear of a Muslim Planet_ Gl…, loc. 376