LONDON, Oct 16: France stood accused of racism on Saturday at a gathering of left-wing and counter-culture groups in London as speakers slammed the country's new law outlawing Islamic headscarves in state schools.

Amid the general "rise of racism and Islamophobia" around Europe, the French ban was simply "the most visible way in which it is taking place", one speaker from a British anti-racist group said.

"We see this ban as a direct attack on the women's right to choose the way they dress," said Milena Buyum, from the National Assembly Against Racism.

Buyum's group was co-sponsoring the debate, one of hundreds taking place in north London under the umbrella of the European Social Forum, which has attracted 19,000 activists to the British capital this weekend.

The French law, which came into effect with the start of the new school year in September, bans state school pupils from wearing hijabs, the headscarves worn by many Muslim women, as well as other "conspicuous" religious insignia.

The move has caused consternation in many Islamic countries, and during a two-hour debate - titled "Hijab: a woman's right to choose" - the French government came in for repeated condemnation.

"Is it to protect secular value? No, it's about state dictatorship," said Arlene Rodrigues from the British-based Assembly for the Protection of Hijab, who was herself wearing one.

A French activist, Christine Delphy, from the Collectif Ecole Pour Toutes et Tous (Collective School for All), slammed An "exceptional treatment for Islamic insignia".

A representative of the Stop the War Coalition, which has organized opposition in Britain to occupation of Iraq, was equally scathing about left-wing groups in France that backed the ban.

"In France, the left, to its shame, has joined in the hysteria of the ban of the hijab," Salma Yaqoob said.

However despite the unanimity from speakers on the platform, some members of the public at the debate - notably French ones - protested.

"How can you call this a debate when of the seven speakers, none of them was in favour of the ban?" one asked, calling it a "caricature (of a) debate."

"I'm shocked by the accusations of racism launched at France," another added.

Trade unionists, environmentalists, human rights activists and other delegates from around the world have gathered in London for the three-day European Social Forum, the third such event.

The hundreds of seminars, debates and workshops during the Forum will see virtually every left-leaning, anti-corporate and pro-green subject covered, although concern at the situation in Iraq has threatened to dominate proceedings. -AFP