A controversial burqa ban adopted by the French Parliament last year comes into effect Monday, making the traditionally secular country the first in the European Union to ban the wearing of the Islamic head covering feet.
In spite of critics of the ban, who say that it is anti-Islamic, President Nicolas Sarkozy said legislators French last year that the burqa is not a religious symbol.
"It is a sign of subservience," he said. "It will be not welcome in the French Republic."
Jacques Myard, a Conservative MP who takes in charge the ban, called the burqa a "shock" to French culture. "The face is a dignity of a person." "The face is your Passport," he said. Therefore when you refuse me to see you, I am a victim.
Only a minority of Muslim women in France choose to wear the burqa and a single told ABC News, she plans to continue to wear.
"On Monday morning, I will make shopping, to the post office and if necessary, the City Hall", said Kenza Drider, a mother of four who has become the face veiled women opposing the new law. "I under no circumstance will stop port my veil.".
Under the new Act, women caught wearing a burqa in public will face a warning, then a $200 fine.
The consequences are very substantial for a man if he forced a woman to wear a burqa - fined $43,000.
The Drider and other Muslim women in France, how they choose cover their faces is a personal and religious choice.
A French Muslim woman named Farida, who gave no family name, said that it chooses not to wear a headscarf, but this does not mean that it supports the ban.
"I believe that we must respect the opinions of people who want to cover their faces because of religious beliefs," she said. "It's part of being a secular society."
And for a handful of women in France, continuing to cover a risk that they are willing to take.
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