Pete...I have been reading articles such as that one for years. The behavior does not surprise me, the lack of defense, from the world, for these women DOES! I am with Holly on my reaction to that sort of treatment if somebody attacked me for not wearing a headscarf...though I doubt my "welcome" to them would be quite as polite as Holly's!
In a dose of seriousness, I constantly read about and hear about the fact that the koran does not demand that a woman wear a hajib or burqa or headscarf of any sort. This is more of the fundamentalist freakshow!