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The Swiss decided: Complete concealment of the face is not allowed



The Swiss approved today with a small majority the ban on hiding the face Photo: Pixabey


The Swiss approved today with a small majority the ban on hiding the face – a signal against radical Islam according to its supporters, xenophobic and sexist initiative according to others, AFP reported.

The text, originally proposed by the right-wing populist Swiss People’s Party, received 51.2 percent of the vote and support from most cantons, according to official results released by the federal government.

The initiative was also supported by feminists and some voters of the secular left.

We are glad. We do not want radical Islam in our country, said the chairman of the Swiss People’s Party Marco Chiesa on Blik TV, quoted by BTA.

The text does not mention a burqa – a cloth covering for the head and part of the face, with the eyes hidden behind a mesh fabric, nor a niqab – a cloth covering over the whole body and the face with a narrow slit for the eyes, but the campaign posters left no doubt the object of the referendum.

In Switzerland, our tradition is to open the face. This is a sign of our fundamental freedoms, said before the vote Walter Wobmann, chairman of the referendum commission and member of parliament from the Swiss People’s Party.

Wobman called the covering of the face a symbol of extreme political Islam, which is becoming more pronounced in Europe and has no place in Switzerland.
The Central Council of Muslims in Switzerland called the vote a black day for the community, Reuters reported.

Two Swiss cantons already have a local ban on wearing a burqa.

Voting against wearing a full body veil in public, Switzerland joins France, Austria, Bulgaria, Belgium and Denmark after a long debate, AFP notes.
It will now be forbidden to cover the face in a public place, which also applies to demonstrators with a hood, but exceptions are provided, for example, in the presence of religious temples.

The Swiss also voted in favor of a trade agreement with Indonesia (52 percent “for”), but overwhelmingly rejected the introduction of a federal electronic identity.

The far-right group, which initiated the burqa referendum, organized a poll in 2009 to ban the construction of new minarets, Reuters reported.

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