Via FaithWorld:
The lower house of Switzerland’s parliament has taken a first step towards banning full-face veils, voting in favour of a measure brought by the political party that spearheaded the 2009 campaign against building new minarets. The motion “Down with the masks”, proposed by SVP representative Oskar Freysinger, comes at a time of rising anti-immigrant sentiment in Switzerland, which holds national polls on Oct. 23.
It was approved on Wednesday by 101 parliamentarians to 77 with nine abstentions on Wednesday and now has to pass Swiss parliament’s upper chamber. If both houses approve the proposal, full-face veils, including Muslim burqas, could eventually be banned from government buildings or public transport.
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