Muslims say it is their human right to wear the headscarf

Lhaj Thami Breze called for the law to be applied "flexibly" when he addressed an annual gathering of thousands of Muslims at Le Bourget, outside Paris.

The ban on religious symbols in schools will come into force at the start of the new academic year this autumn.

It is meant to underpin France's strict separation of religion and state.

It's all about girls' futures - and that's something you can't play around with Lhaj Thami Breze Union of French Islamic Organisations (UOIF)

Mr Breze, president of the Union of French Islamic Organisations (UOIF), said France risked moving from integrating minorities to excluding them.

He called for a mediatory mechanism to be established to allow the law to be implemented as smoothly as possible and to promote compromise.

It was, he said, "all about peoples' consciences" and "girls' futures".

Speaking to journalists, Mr Breze also reportedly suggested girls learn how to use bandannas as "discreet headwear".

Some of those attending the gathering began collections to pay for private tuition for girls who refuse to take off the scarf, AP news agency reports.

Speaker after speaker denounced the ban, the agency noted.

'Happy in France'

Proponents of the ban on religious insignia in the classroom argue it equally applies to Jewish skullcaps and Christian crucifixes but Muslim groups around the world have attacked the ban - many denouncing it as an assault on the human rights of France's five million Muslims.

However, UOIF spokesman Boubaker El Hadj Amor suggested the new law was "minor in a Muslim person's life".

"In spite of everything, and despite setbacks in the process of integration, Muslims are happy in France," he said.