(Associated Press: 0906 PST, April 11, 2011) Veiled women were among a group protesting against the French ban on face covering in public that took effect Monday. Police said at least two were detained, but complained the new law would be tough to enforce.

Face Veil Protesters Detained as French Ban Begins

(Euronews: 0718 PST, April 11, 2011) France's ban on full face veils, a first in Europe, has been marked by anger and arrests at one of the leading landmarks in Paris. Several people were detained at what was meant to be a silent protest outside Notre Dame Cathedral, with feelings running high. "It is an attack on my freedom of conscience, my freedom of religion, my freedom to be a woman," said activist Kenza Drider, wearing a face veil.

Link's Mosaic and the Mosaic Intelligence Report are on vacation this week, but intrepid Mosaic Producer Jamal Dajani has not been slacking. Dajani has been reporting from Paris on the burqa controversy, where French president Nicolas Sarkozy inflamed his country's Muslim population with recent comments stating that the burqa would "not be welcome" in France.

It wasn't easy, but Dajani was able to interview a French woman dressed in burqa for his latest article in the Huffington Post, and it sounds like Sarkozy isn't winning any friends in France's Muslim communities. You can follow Dajani's interesting updates on this story on Twitter.

For more background, this Al Jazeera English piece gives the "inside story" on the call for a burqa ban in France:

Is this anti-burqa campaign really a question of women's rights? (This, of course, coming from the same man caught opening oogling the female form in these photos. Don't you worry -- Obama's wandering eye has apparently been exonerated, according to this ABC News video analysis.) Can France reconcile its values as a secular nation with its growing Muslim immigrant population? We know what Dajani and Sarkozy think -- what about you?