In New Delhi, Children’s "Turban March" Greets Visiting French President

February 20, 2006

Source: DNA

Wire Service: AFP

http://dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1013926

On February 20, 2006 Agence France-Presse reported, "Scores of Sikh schoolchildren staged a "turban" march in New Delhi on Monday to demand that visiting French President Jacques Chirac lift a ban on wearing turbans in French state schools. Waving placards declaring the 'Turban is the pride of Sikhs' and 'Restore Sikh dignity,' the boys with brightly coloured turbans and girls marched through the capital's streets to the French embassy where they presented a petition. 'This march does not just challenge a law but the Western way of thinking,' said senior Sikh religious leader Manjit Singh, who led the children's march. The children presented the petition to the embassy and urged the French government to 'accommodate the tapestry of diversity within it,' Singh said. 'We don't have this (turban ban) problem in Germany, Britain, Canada or the US or anywhere in the world - it's only in France,' Singh said. "