Switzerland votes to ban burqa and niqab in public places

BERN. According to initial projections, the Swiss agreed to a nationwide ban on covering in a referendum. According to the Basler Zeitung, just under 52 percent were in favor of banning the wearing of the Nikab or Burka in public spaces.

Adopted, this dress code would be incorporated into the constitution and would apply on the streets, in restaurants and shops. There is an exception for religious meeting rooms. Such a ban already existed in the Swiss cantons of St. Gallen and Ticino. In Austria, France and the Netherlands there are also bans on concealment.

According to the SRF extrapolation, the turnout was around 51 percent. In 2009, 57.5 percent of the population had already joined the popular initiative “Against the building of minarets”. Both votes were initiated by the Egerking Committee, which, according to its own statements, organizes “resistance against the claims to power of political Islam in Switzerland”.

Source: Junge Freiheit