France outlaws public wearing of burka

Muslim women who wear the niqab or burka in public in France face fines of 150 euros (£132) under a new veil law that has just come into force.

One woman who travelled from Avignon to Paris to demonstrate against the ban has been arrested by police along with another woman during a protest at Notre Dame Cathedral, Sky News informs.

French people backed the ban by a margin of more than four to one, the Pew Global Attitudes Project found in a survey last year. Some 82 percent of people polled approved of a ban, while 17 percent disapproved. That was the widest support the Washington-based think tank found in any of the five countries it surveyed. Clear majorities also backed burqa bans in Germany, Britain and Spain, while two out of three Americans opposed it, the survey found.

Amnesty International had repeatedly urged France not to impose the ban, saying it violates European human rights law, CNN International says.