After France, Belgium is now mired in an emotionally-charged debate on whether to ban Islamic headscarves and other overt religious symbols in state schools.
Inspired by a planned French law, two Belgian senators have sponsored similar legislation to combat what they say is Islamic sexism.
"The veil amounts to oppression of the individual in the name of religion," said one of the senators, socialist Anne-Marie Lizin.
French President Jacques Chirac called last month for a ban on religious insignia in schools following months of fierce debate over whether to allow Islamic headscarves in state schools, which are officially secular.
The draft law, which parliament is likely to pass next month, has drawn protest across the Muslim world and in France.
Belgium has no such laws at the moment. But school boards have the right to take their own action, a right exercised recently by the Athenee Royal high school in Brussels, which has a high number of immigrant pupils.
"We have changed our rules to forbid the wearing of headscarves in the school because the situation was no longer tenable," said the school's administrator, Francis Lees.
"Some pupils have since left the school, but we have been able to break out of our ghetto," he said.
A French teacher of Moroccan origin at the school said he was convinced that if Belgium passed an anti-headscarf law, "most of the girls would conform with it."
"They're not going to play with their futures for the sake of that. We shouldn't exaggerate the influence of Islamists," he said.
But in Belgium's 350,000-strong Muslim community (out of a total population of 10 million), the debate has aroused fierce passions.
Following an appeal from a radical Muslim political group, the Party for Citizenship and Prosperity, about 100 Belgian Muslims were expected to take part in a demonstration in Paris this weekend against the proposed French legislation.
"We want to denounce an attack on fundamental liberties and affirm our solidarity with our European colleagues," said a party offi-cial, Rachid Zegzaoui.
He said the party would organize a similar demonstration in Brus-sels in the weeks ahead.
Several Muslim groups said in a joint statement that a ban on Islamic headscarves and veils "would deprive Muslim citizens of the pleasure of exercising their civic rights."
The Belgian government is divided over the senators' initiative.
Interior Minister Patrick Dewael has come out in support of a ban on Islamic veils and other overt religious symbols in schools and other state institutions, such as hospitals and government offices.
But the minister for public functions and social integration, Marie Arena, has called the proposals "radical and aggressive."
The issue is unlikely to recede with local elections in June giving an opportunity for backers of the headscarf bill to press their case.
The anti-immigrant, far-right Vlaams Blok party is hoping to do particularly well in the forthcoming ballot, having gained three seats for a total of 18 in the national parliament in a general election last May.
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