MP backs burqa ban in Italy

Rome, Aug 11 (IANS/AKI) A lawmaker for the anti-immigrant Northern League party on Thursday urged Italy to ban the head-to-toe Islamic burqa in public places.

"The Northern League tabled proposals in parliament a month ago to outlaw the burqa in public places in order to allow people to be recognised and to ensure greater security," said MP Paolo Grimoldi.

"We ask for our bill to be debated by lawmakers immediately after the summer recess," Grimoldi said.

"Lombardy is the only Italian region to have banned the burqa in hospitals and other public places," he said.

Elsewhere in Italy, Muslims are exempt from a law forbidding people from walking around in public in headgear that covers the face - including motorbike helmets - Grimoldi noted.

A ban on the burqa in public is among 27 proposals to boost security in the wake of recent terror attacks in Germany signed up to by interior ministers from Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative Christian Democrat party and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union.

--IANS/AKI

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