The debate has amplified in the week since cabinet minister Jack Straw appealed to Muslim women to remove their veils to improve face-to-face communication and prevent separate cultures from taking root in Britain.
Some 60 protestors greeted Straw at his constituency office in Blackburn, north-western England, chanting: "The veil is freedom. The veil is liberation. The veil is choice."
Meanwhile, Aishah Azmi, 24, a Muslim teaching assistant who has been suspended by her school in Dewsbury, northern England, has denied that she had refused to take off her veil while in class.
Azmi told BBC radio she had only insisted on wearing it in the company of male colleagues, but had accepted an order to remove it while before her pupils at Headfield Church of England junior school.
"I have no problem with the children," she said.
Kirklees Council, the school's local administrative body, has confirmed that Azmi's case had gone to an employment tribunal and that she would remain suspended until it had reached a verdict.
Stressing that the action had "nothing to do" with religion, the school is reported to have deemed face-to-face contact was essential in her role as a bilingual support worker.
Azmi told BBC radio her 11-year-old pupils had "very good English" and had "never complained" that they had trouble understanding while she was wearing her veil, which only reveals her eyes.
In Scotland, a Muslim preacher was hurt in an apparently religious or racially motivated attack inside his mosque, police, health officials and witnesses said.
Mohammed Shamsuddin, 53, the Bangladeshi imam at the Dawat ul Islam centre in Glasgow, was taken to hospital for treatment to minor injuries.
Tommy Sheridan, a member of the autonomous Scottish parliament, said the attack occurred because Muslims were being isolated and demonised by British politicians like Jack Straw.
In a fresh twist to the debate, a Christian woman said she planned to sue her employer, British Airways, for religious discrimination after the airline ruled that displaying her cross necklace breached uniform rules.
In frequent television appearances, Nadia Eweida, a check-in worker at London's Heathrow Airport, has alleged she was effectively "forced" to take unpaid leave after refusing to remove the cross.
BA said items such as Sikh turbans, Muslim hijabs (headscarves) and bangles could be worn "as it is not practical for staff to conceal them beneath their uniforms".
Eweida said she unsuccessfully sought permission to wear her cross from BA management.
Vince Cable, the deputy leader of the opposition Liberal Democrats, has backed Eweida, who is one of his constituents.
Ann Widdecombe, a member of parliament for the main opposition Conservative Party, urged Britons to be alert to everything which says Christians may not practise their beliefs.
"We do have a comeback when we're dealing with commercial
companies like BA because we do not have to deal with them," she told Sky News.