Nicolas Sarkozy defends Swiss minaret ban

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Paris - Nicolas Sarkozy has defended Switzerland's ban on building minarets with a warning that religious groups should refrain from ''ostentation and any provocation''. The French president made the remarks as he sought to justify his own, controversial, ''great debate'' on France's national identity, which critics say is alienating mainly Muslim immigrants. (Snip) ''Instead of irrevocably condemning the Swiss people, let's also try to understand what it sought to express ''

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