Dutch consider burqa ban to Muslim dismay

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

Last December, parliament voted to forbid women from wearing the burqa or any Muslim face coverings in public, justifying the move in part as a security measure.

The cabinet is awaiting the results of a study into the legality of such a ban under European human rights laws, before making its final decision. The results are expected in the second half of this month.

"This is an enormous victory for traditional Dutch decency," said Geert Wilders, the populist member of parliament who first proposed the burqa ban, after hearing parliament had backed it.

"The burqa is hostile to women, and medieval. For a woman to walk around on the streets completely covered is an insult to everyone who believes in equal rights."

[...]

Social and religious tensions have escalated in recent years, exacerbated by the murder of columnist and director Theo van Gogh by a Dutch-Moroccan militant in 2004 after he made a film accusing Islam of condoning violence against women.

His murder, and that of anti-immigration populist Pim Fortuyn two years earlier, deeply unsettled the country and provoked an anti-Muslim backlash, as well as much soul-searching about the make-up and cohesion of Dutch society.

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews....DUTCH-BURQA.xml

Edited March 7, 2006 by Agent Smith

[almaty 19]

aw, the liberal dutch...Burqa is not part of my believes or a tradition in kazakhstan or with the chechens...i think it is a backlash on events there and elsewhere.

[mawilson 2,133]

Yes!!!! The Burka thread is back!!!