World Bulletin / News Desk

Paprec, a French recycling company in the suburbs of Paris, has introduced a new ban on religious symbols in the workplace for its 4,000 employees.

This means that all symbols from all religions will be banned, including the headscarf, which is a religious requirement for Muslim women.

While the company insists it is only applying the same model that is in place in the public sphere, the Director of the French research organisation Observatory of Religions, professor Raphaël Liogier, said that what Paprec was doing was illegal.

"The 2004 law was based on protecting children, because it was presumed they were too young to make up their own minds about religion," Liogier told The Local on Tuesday.

As a strictly secular country, France has been leading the way in Europe to introduce curbs on all religious clothing, including the face veil which was banned last year.

France is home to the biggest Muslim population in Europe, which currently stands at around 5 million.