PARIS - French Muslim leaders voiced deep concern Monday about a presidential panel's report urging France to ban Islamic head scarves in public schools.
In a letter to French President Jacques Chirac, a council of Muslim leaders said it feared the tone and suggestions of the wide-ranging report would harm the image of France's 5 million-strong Muslim community — 8 percent of the population.
"The spirit and the general tone of the report stigmatize this element" of French society, the leaders wrote.
The letter was drawn up by the French Council of the Muslim Faith, set up this spring to serve as a link between the government and the Muslim community, the largest in Western Europe. It is headed by Dalil Boubakeur, who is also rector of the Mosque of Paris.
The group held an extraordinary meeting Monday to debate the report, which they said was generating "serious concern" in the community.
"French Muslims are still paying for Sept. 11," Mohamed Bechari, the council's vice president, told reporters after the meeting.
On Wednesday, the French president is expected to announce whether he supports legislation to ban head scarves and other religious symbols in school.
Chirac is expected to take into account the suggestions of the presidential panel, which spent six months studying how to maintain secularism — a constitutionally guaranteed principle that is a core French value — while integrating the Muslim community.
France has long debated the head scarf issue, but issue has taken on new urgency in the past two years with dozens of girls expelled from school for refusing to remove their veils.
The panel did not only target head scarves: It also recommended banning Jewish skullcaps and large crucifixes at schools. Small pendants like the Star of David would be permitted.
The report's authors say it does not discriminate against France's Muslim community but seeks to give all religions a more equal footing. However, the Muslim council said Muslims felt singled out.
"The proposed terms ... seem most discriminatory toward Islam," the council wrote.
Muslim leaders also said they worried the report plays down France's guarantee of religious freedom.
Until now, the only policy on head scarves in schools came from the Council of State, France's highest administrative body, which has said they can be banned if they are of an "ostentatious character," a judgment left to each school.
Head scarves are already forbidden for people working in the public sector, but that rule — which is not a law — is occasionally broken. A Muslim employee of the city of Paris was recently suspended for refusing to take off her scarf or shake men's hands.