A GROUP of right-wing politicians is gathering signatures to try to force a national vote on banning the construction of minarets in Switzerland. The planned building of minarets, the towers attached to mosques from which the Islamic call for prayer is issued, in small Swiss towns has sparked local protests.
A group of politicians from the Swiss National Party and Federal Democratic Union are seeking to prevent the construction of minarets in national law, saying they are a symbol of power and threaten law and order in Switzerland. The campaign has to gather 100,000 signatures by November 2008 to force a national vote on the initiative which, if it gains a majority vote, would then be written into law.
“We have no doubt that we'll reach the goal,” Ulrich Schlueer, a Swiss National Party parliamentarian for Zurich who is heading the initiative, said. “We've now been collecting for a week and we've already got 10,000 signatures.”
There are currently only two minarets in Switzerland, in Zurich and Geneva. The call to prayer is not made from these minarets.
But Swiss President and Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey, a Social Democrat, said a ban on minaret construction would threaten the country's security. “Such an initiative endangers Swiss interests and the security of Swiss people,” Mr Calmy-Rey said.
| "Because, after all, the followers of Allan could get very angry with us." |
“The liberty to practise a religion is guaranteed in Switzerland.”
| Some have more liberties than others. |
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