French Interior Minister Manuel Valls defended on Monday the country’s ban on wearing full-face veils in public.

French Interior Minister Manuel Valls defended on Monday the country’s ban on wearing full-face veils in public, Reuters news agency reported.

A police check on a veiled Muslim woman in the southwest suburb of Trappes sparked an angry confrontation that led to a police station being surrounded by several hundred people on Friday night, some hurling rocks.

“The law banning full-face veils is a law in the interests of women and against those values having nothing to do with our traditions and values,” Reuters quoted Valls as saying.

The 2010 law targets burqa and niqab garments that conceal the face rather than the headscarf that is more common among French Muslim women.