"the requirement to show one's face in public fell under "the respect for the minimum requirements of life in society.""

Oh really?

And yet when people walk down the street in winter with balaclavas, nobody complains.
And when motorcyclists ride down the road with face shields, nobody complains.
And when people wear those surgical face masks all over the place, inside and out, (it often seems to be Asian women - you can even buy them in designer colours), nobody complains.

What do those three groups of people have in common?  They're not identifiably Muslim.  It's almost as though covering the face isn't the real issue here, and anti-Muslim animus is.