France's PM stands with teachers after school chief quits in hijab row
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00:00 The French government takes a stand for teachers after a Paris school principal resigned in the face of online death threats.
00:07 On national TV Wednesday, the Prime Minister said France will sue a teenage student
00:13 who accused the principal of hitting her after she refused to remove her headscarf.
00:18 I've decided the state will file a complaint against this young woman for slanderous accusations.
00:24 The state will always stand with these officials.
00:27 Those who are on the front line facing these attacks on secularism.
00:32 These attempts at Islamist entry into our educational establishments.
00:36 On February 28th, the principal told three female students they should obey the law and remove their head coverings.
00:46 Two complied, but a third, an adult in a vocational training class, did not.
00:51 There are contradicting versions of what happened next.
00:54 The headmaster caught her like this. He shouted once, twice. She didn't take it off.
01:00 Did you see it?
01:01 No, but my friends told me in detail. He caught hold of her and the girl didn't like it.
01:06 The headmaster didn't hit a pupil. He simply asked a student who was crossing the room to take off her headscarf.
01:16 France's education minister visited Lycée Ravel in early March to show her support for the headmaster.
01:23 He was provided personal security.
01:25 Still, students were told Tuesday he chose to take early retirement.
01:30 For headteachers' unions, it's a worrying incident.
01:33 It's a situation that could happen to any of us because we make sure that the law and secularism is respected.
01:42 And we can end up faced with those who want to break this rule.
01:47 The student filed a legal complaint against the principal, which was later dismissed. Now she is the one facing legal action.