On Tuesday, France's lower house of parliament nearly unanimously voted for a ban on any veils that cover the face -- including the burqa, the full-body covering worn by some Muslim women.
The vote was 335 to 1.
However, this vote must still be put before the French Senate before it becomes official legislation.
Amnesty International vociferously opposed this vote.
"A complete ban on the covering of the face would violate the rights to freedom of expression and religion of those women who wear the burqa or the niqab in public as an expression of their identity or beliefs," said John Dalhuisen, Amnesty International's expert on discrimination in Europe.
The French people support this ban by over four to one, the Pew Global Attitudes Project found in a recent survey.
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