France to sue teenager for falsely accusing teacher of hitting her in row over headscarf

The French prime minister has said a teenage girl will be sued by the state for falsely accusing her school headteacher of hitting her after she was asked to remove her hijab.

“The state… will always stand with these officials, those who are on the frontline faced with these breaches of secularism, these attempts of Islamist entryism in our education establishments,” Gabriel Attal said on the TF1 television channel.

A row broke out on February 28 after the principal told the student to take off her headscarf inside the school, in accordance with French law.

However, he later resigned from his role after receiving death threats on social media.

The unnamed headteacher of Paris's Maurice Ravel Lycée, in the 20th district, told his colleagues he was leaving via email last Friday.

"I have finally taken the decision to quit my functions," he explained, "out of concern for my own safety and that of the establishment."

"I leave after seven years, rich and intense, spent at your side, and after 45 years in public education," he wrote, thanking his colleagues for their support over the past three weeks.

The teacher had instructed three female students to remove their headscarves in line with the law.

Two agreed, but the third refused, leading to a confrontation.

The incident was brought to public attention and the headteacher faced a backlash on social media.

Two individuals have been detained over the alleged death threats.

In 2004, the French National Assembly passed a law banning schoolchildren from wearing items such as kippahs, headscarves, or turbans that overtly display religious affiliation, as part of the country's secular principles to maintain neutrality in state institutions.