Belgium’s lower house of parliament has voted for a law banning the burqa in public yesterday. However, Christian Liberals and Democrats in the Senate could still challenge it, delaying its enforcement.
France steps closer to banning the Islamic face veils in public, reports Natasha Lehrer
The reignition of the burka debate in France reflects the political class’s fears for the state’s treasured “laïcité”, writes Agnès Poirier
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A ban on wearing the all covering burka in France would stem the spread of what French minister Fadela Amara called the “cancer” of radical Islam. The Muslim minister for urban regeneration told the Financial Times newspaper that the head-to-toe body covering and veil represented the “oppression of women, their enslavement and their humiliation.” Read more here