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| Europe | |
| Dutch plan ban on Muslim face veils next year | |
| 2012-01-28 | |
| The Dutch minority government plans to ban Muslim face veils such as burqas and other forms of clothing that cover the face from next year. The ban would make the Netherlands, where 1 million out of 17 million people are Muslim, the second European Union country to ban the burqa after France, and would apply to face-covering veils if they were worn in public. "People should be able to look at each other's faces and recognize each other when they meet," the interior affairs ministry said in a statement Friday.
Geert Wilders' anti-Islam Freedom Party (PVV), which helps give the Liberal-Christian Democrat coalition a majority in parliament, has set considerable political store on getting the so-called burqa ban passed into law. Few Muslim women in the Netherlands wear the Arabic-style niqabs which leave the eyes uncovered and Afghan-style burqas that cover the face with a cloth grid. Academics estimate the numbers at between 100 and 400, whereas Muslim headscarves which leave the face exposed are far more common. The coalition has agreed to submit a new law to parliament next week stipulating that offenders would be fined up to 390 euros ($510), the ministry said. | |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #1 There should be fewer unsolvable store robberies, too. Hurrah for Geert Wilders, who has changed the discussion in Europe! |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2012-01-28 16:21 |