Source: Beliefnet.com

http://www.beliefnet.com/story/137/story_13798_1.html

On December 30, 2003 Beliefnet.com posted an Associated Press article that reported, "Advocates for Muslim religious freedoms brought a petition and letters to the French consulate Tuesday, protesting that country's proposed ban of Islamic head scarves and other religious symbols in public schools...Ghazi Khankan, executive director of the New York chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations, the Washington-based Islamic civil rights and advocacy group...presented an official at the French consulate with a petition containing nearly 1,000 names and thousands of signed letters protesting the ban. About 40 protesters, including many women wearing the hijab, or head covering, held protest signs across the street from the consulate on Fifth Avenue and at midday, knelt in prayer."