Gulf tourist asked to leave opera in paris

A woman wearing a full-face Islamic veil was told to leave a Paris opera house after members of the cast refused to perform if she remained in the audience, officials said. The woman, described as “a tourist from a Gulf state,” was sitting in the front row during a performance of La Traviata at the Opéra Bastille, the deputy director, Jean-Philippe Thiellay, said. France banned the wearing of the full-face veil, or niqab, in public in 2011. Mr. Thiellay said performers told him during the second act that they would only continue if the woman left, which she did after an attendant told her that she could stay only if she removed her veil.