Veils and V-signs

The woman on the left could very well have been making a victory sign. It was most probably an expression of resistence and resilience. However the Sun characterised this picture thus:

One STUCK two fingers up in a V-sign, the second STARED icily ahead and the third SHIELDED her face with her hand, despite only her eyes being visible.

The same picture also appeared in other papers:

* in the Telegraph the woman is "giving vent to her feelings"

* in that evening's Birmingham Mail it is simply a "gesture"

* in the Daily Mail it is above the headine "Hostility and Fear on the Quiet Streets"

* and in the Express it is "obscene"

However, the Sun is the only paper which caricatures all three women in the picture. The woman on the left could be giving a victory sign and not "sticking two fingers up." The woman in the middle could just be looking at an assembled pack of photograpers and not "staring icily ahead." The woman on the right could just be fixing her niqab or she might even have a headache. She is not necesarily "shielding her face" (why would she need to? She's wearing a niqab!)

Not to mention the fact the press could be trying to arouse further hostility against the veil by featuring this picture so prominently in their coverage of a "terrorist plot".