Some 2K Bosnians Protest Ban on Wearing Hijab; "Religious Signs" Now Barred in Country's Courts

Bosnians have taken to the streets to protest a ban on wearing Islamic headscarves (hijabs) in the country's legal institutions, the Religion News website reports today (February 9, 2016).

Around 2,000 people marched through the Bosnian capital, Sarajevo, on February 7 to protest against the new restrictions. The country's high judicial council ordered the ban on the hijab and all "religious signs" from courts and other legal institutions.

"The ban of wearing [the] hijab in judicial institutions is a serious attack against Muslim honor, personality and identity, a violation ... aimed at depriving them of their right to work," Samira Zunic Velagic, a protest leader, said.

Muslims make up 45 percent of Bosnia and Herzegovina's population. Christians account for an estimated 52 percent of the nation's population, the majority of whom are of the Greek Orthodox faith.