The opposition Conservatives also joined the fray when a top party official accused Muslim leaders of encouraging a "voluntary apartheid" that could help spawn homegrown terrorism.

The debate over Islamic integration in Britain began when Jack Straw, a former foreign secretary who is now leader of the House of Commons, said Muslim women visiting his office should remove their veils. Nazir Ahmed, the House of Lords' first Muslim legislator, Sunday criticized British politicians and media for "demonizing" the country's Muslims.

The Sunday Mirror newspaper quoted Phil Woolas, the government's race and faith minister, as demanding Muslim teaching assistant Aishah Azmi be fired for refusing to remove her veil at work.

"She should be sacked. She has put herself in a position where she can't do her job," Woolas said.

Azmi refused to remove her black veil, which leaves only her eyes visible, in front of male colleagues. She was suspended from her job at the Headfield Church of England School in West Yorkshire, a northern area with a large Muslim population. Junior schools such as Headfield generally teach students at the ages of four to 11.

Azmi, 24, who has two children, said she was willing to remove her veil in class, as long as there were no adult males present.

She has taken her case to an industrial tribunal that is expected to make its decision in a few weeks.

"She is denying the right of children to a full education by insisting that she wears the veil. If she is saying that she won't work with men, she is taking away the right of men to work in school," Woolas was quoted as saying.

"There are limits in a liberal democracy. There are boundaries in a democracy and this is one of them. It's a boundary we can't cross."

In The Sunday Telegraph, David Davis, a top Conservative Party official, supported Straw for starting the debate. "What Jack touched on was the fundamental issue of whether in Britain we are developing a divided society. Whether we are creating a series of closed societies within our open society. Whether we are inadvertently encouraging a kind of voluntary apartheid."

To complicate the matter another dispute over a religious item has made the news. A British Airways check-in worker, Nadia Eweida, has claimed that she was effectively forced to take unpaid leave for refusing to remove or conceal a small crucifix necklace.

The airline says items such as turbans, hijabs and bangles can be openly worn as it is not practical for staff to wear them under a uniform, but smaller items such as crucifixes on necklaces should be concealed.

Christian groups have branded British Airways' ruling as "extremely offensive," and Eweida, 55, has said she plans to sue her employer for religious discrimination.

British Cabinet minister Peter Hain, the Northern Ireland secretary, told the BBC Sunday he "didn't understand" BA's decision. "Frankly, I think the British Airways order for her not to wear a cross was loopy," Hain said. ASSOCIATED PRESS