Via Reuters:
The Dutch minority government plans to ban Muslim face veils such as burqas and other forms of clothing that cover the face from next year.
The ban would make the Netherlands, where 1 million out of 17 million people are Muslim, the second European Union country to ban the burqa after France, and would apply to face-covering veils if they were worn in public.
"People should be able to look at each other's faces and recognize each other when they meet," the interior affairs ministry said in a statement Friday.
(source)
Via RNW:
The burqa ban passed by the cabinet on Friday is drawing mostly negative reactions, both among Muslim organisations and political parties.
A large Turkish interest group, IOT, says the government hasn’t considered the ban’s consequences. “Women who currently only venture outside, or are allowed to go outside, wearing a burqa, will from now on stay home,” IOT chair Aydin Akkaya warns.(source)
