More than 400 people attended a demonstration outside the French embassy in London on Saturday against the ban in French state schools of the Islamic headscarf or hijab.
The protests, on what those opposed to the ban had billed as "International Hijab Solidarity Day", were peaceful and police reported no incidences of violence.
The rally came two days after the start of the academic year in France, which has banned the wearing of the hijab or any other overt religious symbols in state schools.
"The hijab is a big thing to us," said Rajnaara Akhtar, vice-coordinator of the Assembly for the Protection of the Hijab, who led the protest in London.
"We won't give up the right to wear it lightly," she said.
"I am constantly being told that I am being oppressed and made to wear it but that is not true. I choose to."
"It is oppression not to let Muslim women wear the hijab and express themselves."
The ban, introduced by the centre-right government of President Jacques Chirac to preserve France's strict separation of religion and state, went into effect on Thursday despite threats from Islamic militants holding two journalists in Iraq.
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