The government and its main opposition joined Saturday in supporting school officials who expelled two sisters for refusing to remove traditional Islamic headscarves in class.
Administrators at the girls' high school, in Aubervilliers outside Paris, said the headscarves were ostentatious symbols of religion.
Lila Levy, 16, and her sister Alma, 18, were expelled Friday for violating regulations aimed at keeping public schools secular.
Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy backed the decision, saying "these rules must be respected by everyone."
"Our Muslim compatriots know and respect them. It must be done in a way that no one feels humiliated," he said.
Francois Hollande, leader of the opposition Socialist Party, agreed, saying "the law must be applied. We're in a secular country."
The girls' father, Laurent Levy, accused school officials of practicing "educational apartheid." He blamed the decision to expel his daughters on what he claimed is a phobia of Islam "eating away at French society."
Teachers at the Henry Wallon high school said some Muslim pupils had asked that the ban on headscarves be upheld.