Protestors call for allowing headscarves as Islam 'part of the identity of the people' of Kosovo.
PRISTINA - Some 1,000 people on Friday took to the streets of the Kosovo capital to protest against a government ban on wearing Muslim headscarves in public schools.
"Our demand is that this ban to be suspended as soon as possible," said Bujar Xhikoti, a representative of the organisers of the protest.
The organisers, relatively unknown non-governmental "Join Us" movement, warned the protests would be intensified if the ban was not suspended in a month.
Carrying signs saying Prime Minister "Hashim Thaci do not discriminate against us because we are Muslims" and chanting "God is great", the protesters demanded that the government allow the wearing of religious symbols in schools.
The move to ban headscarves "is an effort to present Islam as foreign although it is a part of the identity of the people," Xhikoti said.
The government prohibits girls from attending public schools wearing the headscarf and recently there have been a few cases where young women have been barred from school for refusing to remove their headscarves.
More than 90 percent of Kosovo's population are Muslims, but western values and culture dominate in the society.
After Kosovo declared indepedence from Serbia in 2008 it adopted a secular constitution that stipulates the separation of religious and state authority.
Serbia does not recognize independent Kosovo. However the United States and 22 out of 27 members of the European Union are among 70 countries that recognise it.
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