Kosovans call for religious freedom after student expelled over headscarf

11/05/2010| IslamWeb

Kosovans rallied to demand religious freedom as a girl expelled from school just because she wears headscarf.

Hundreds in Kosovo staged a protest against a girl's suspension from school for wearing headscarf.

Arlinda Zeka, 15, was suspended from Pjeter Bogdani Technical High School in the town of Ferizaj, south of Pristina.

While Kosovo's constitution guarantees religious freedom and there is no law against the headscarf in school, education authorities forbid headscarves or other religious symbols from schools.

Protesters on Friday organized a mass rally to condemn the ban against the headscarf in Kosovo, which is 90 percent Muslim.

People demanded they want education authorities to reverse the suspension of a girl from school because she wore a headscarf.

The protesters chanted anti-government slogans as they walked in the capital, Pristina. Some carried placards reading "Stop Discrimination" and "Veiling of the mind is forbidden, not of the head."

Signature campaigns continue on the internet against the ban as well.

PHOTO CAPTION

Kosovans stage a protest against a girl's suspension from school for wearing headscarf

Agencies