France's women's rights minister faced growing criticism on Thursday, including calls on social media to resign, after comparing women who wear the Muslim headscarf and veil to "negroes who supported slavery," AFP reports.
An online petition that collected nearly 18,000 signatures within hours urged Prime Minister Manuel Valls to punish Laurence Rossignol, while a leading French Muslim group accused her of aiding the "Islamic State" (ISIS) terrorist group.