French court upholds banning of religious symbols in municipal council

A French court has upheld a mayor’s ban of conspicuous religious symbols in a municipal council after it was challenged by two elected officials.

The administrative court in Dijon found on Wednesday that the decree of Gilles Platret, mayor of the town Chalon-sur-Saône, banning “conspicuous religious signs” did not constitute “a serious and manifestly unlawful infringement of freedom of conscience.”

“The freedom of conscience of an elected member of a municipal council...