BEIJING, Oct. 8 (Xinhuanet) -- The on-going debate, sparked by a British government minister over whether Muslim women should wear a veil, continued on Sunday.

    The row erupted after Leader of the House of Commons Jack Straw said he asked visitors to his office to remove their veils, saying they acted as "a visible statement of separation and difference".

    His remarks last week provoked Muslim ire, political tremors and public commentaries.

    One leading Muslim said his comments were responsible for an attack on a Muslim woman in the northern city of Liverpool in which her veil was ripped off and racial abuse was shouted.

    After Straw's remarks became public, Muslim leaders in Straw's Blackburn constituency in northwest England said many Muslim women would find his comments "offensive and disturbing."

    The Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott said that Muslim women should be free to choose to wear a veil, and said he feared the debate on the issue could harm community relations.

    He said he would not follow Mr Straw's example and ask women visiting him to remove the veil.

    "I think a woman who wants to wear a veil - why shouldn't she? It is her choice. It is a cultural difference but it is her choice," he said. Enditem

(Agencies)