A Woman Wearing a Full-Face Veil Was Asked to Leave a Paris Opera House

Jean-Philippe Thiellay, the vice president of the Paris Opera, confirmed to AFP on Sunday that a woman wearing a full-face veil, showing only her eyes, was asked to either uncover her face or leave the auditorium earlier this month.

The incident occurred on October 3 at the Opera Bastille, one of the world's most prestigious opera houses, during a performance of Giuseppe Verdi's La Traviata. The woman, who was wearing a light-colored veil and was visible to monitors, was spotted by members of the cast during the second act.

According to Thiellay, "certain choir members indicated that they would refuse to sing," unless the issue was addressed.

During the intermission, an attendant approached the woman and her friend, who were sitting in the second row, informing them that according to French legislation he was authorized to ask the woman either to uncover her face or leave.

According to sources at Metronews, the two audience members were tourists visiting from a Gulf State. Thiellay indicated that the pair had left quietly and without fuss, adding that this type of incident was unprecedented at the opera house.

The law in question, which came in under former conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy in 2010, stipulates that: "Nobody can wear, in a public space, clothing intended to conceal the face." The penalty for breaching the law can be a 150 euro ($190) fine and/or mandatory attendance of citizenship classes.

The ban, which was enacted into law on April 11, 2011, also extends to "balaclavas, masks or any other accessory intended to conceal the face." It defines the public space as "public roads, and spaces that are open to the public or assigned to public service," including but not limited to beaches, parks, restaurants, schools, theaters and, of course, opera houses.

The law also introduced a provision in the Penal Code to punish anyone found to be coercing women to cover their faces, either "by threat, violence, constraint, abuse of authority or abuse of power." Persons found guilty of this can be fined up to $38,000.

"It is never pleasant to have to ask someone to leave a performance space, which is usually a place of openness and understanding," said Thiellay. "But there was a misunderstanding of the law and the lady either had to respect it or leave."

According to sources at AFP, the French Ministry of Culture said it was drafting new guidelines for theaters, museums, and other public institutions, on how to best enforce the ban. VICE News spoke to the ministry today, which confirmed that the bill was still in the drafting phase and that it would soon be ready for distribution, but declined to comment on its contents.

This is not the first time that the French ban on veils has led to an incident. In July 2013, riots broke out in a Paris suburb after the police arrested a man who attacked an officer conducting a routine identity check on his veiled wife. The incident sparked two nights of rioting and violent clashes between local youth and the police.

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Photo via Flickr