Saturday, December 11, 2010

Spanish town becomes first to ban face-covering veils



Lleida approves municipal ban on burqas, niqabs because they 'attack equality between men and women and are against women's dignity'.

A northern Spanish town brought into force Thursday a ban on Islamic face-covering veils in municipal buildings, the first such decree in the country. The town of Lleida, population 120,000, approved in July a municipal ban on body-covering burqas or face-covering niqab garments at about 130 locations, ranging from civic centres to swimming pools.

The law, implemented Thursday, was the first of its kind in Spain, where face-covering Islamic garments are seldom seen despite a sharp rise in immigration from Muslim countries over the past decade.

"I believe the burqa and the hijab, as well as similar garments that completely cover the face are an attack against equality between men and women, they are an attack against women's dignity," Lleida mayor Angel Ros said. 

"I believe also that equality is something which our society has fought several years for and there can be no reason, not religious, not cultural, that attacks this basic principle," he said in an interview. 

The law prohibits the "use of the veil and other clothes and accessories which cover the face and prevent identification in buildings and installations of the town hall." Repeat offenders face fines of 600 euros ($795).

Read the full story here.

2 comments:

Damien said...

Pastorius,

Good. They're fighting back.

Claudia said...

I wouldn't be too happy despite this resolution. The major has named Mr. Houzi, Lleida's Salafist imam (and one of the most -pro-jihad in all Spain)[*], the representative of Muslims in town.

[*] He has been accused of bigamy and has a pending process against him for domestic violence. There are reports that says that he is marrying people polygamously and telling them is totally valid under Spanish law, something which is, of course, a lie. Some Muslims have accused him of having an Islamic police that oversees Muslim-owned business to see if they are selling alcohol, and some of them had been obliged to go to other towns. lastly, some Muslims have also accused him of stealing the money they have collected to build the mosque, while at the same time he is asking for free public land to build it.