Swiss voters will go to the ballot box on March 7th to weigh in on three issues. One of the most controversial ones is the so-called ‘anti-burqa’ initiative.
Swiss voters will weigh in on controversial issues such as the 'burka ban', an electronic identification law, and a free trade agreement with Indonesia.
The Swiss government has rejected a nationwide burqa ban but hopes to introduce a new law that would make it illegal for people to refuse to uncover their face when asked to do so by government officials, transport staff or privately-contracted ticket inspectors.
A second Swiss canton will introduce a regional "burqa ban", after voters in St. Gallen overwhelmingly voted Sunday to prohibit all face-covering garments in public spaces.
A second Swiss canton will vote Sunday on whether to introduce a regional "burqa ban", a controversial law that would prohibit all face-covering garments in public spaces.
The Federal Supreme Court has ruled that a planned referendum in the canton of Valais which would have seen the wearing of headscarves and veils is invalid and cannot go ahead.
Voters in the canton of St Gallen will have their say on whether to impose a conditional ban on covering the face in public after a group of young socialists launched a referendum campaign to contest parliament’s proposal.
The cantonal parliament of St Gallen on Monday voted to adopt a bill that would ban people from covering their face in public, including women wearing the burqa.
The Swiss may get the chance to vote on the introduction of a nationwide ban on the burqa after campaigners from the so-called Egerkingen committee succeeded in gathering the required number of signatures to push the issue to a referendum.
Members of the public are calling on Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) to remove controversial posters from its railway stations just days after right-wing campaigners launched their provocative publicity campaign.
Switzerland's lower house of parliament on Tuesday narrowly approved a draft bill on a nationwide burqa ban, the ATS news agency reported, but the measure remains far from coming into force.
The Geneva-based UN on Tuesday welcomed a decision by France's highest administrative court to suspend a controversial ban on burqini swimwear, warning that the ban had fuelled religious intolerance and stigmatization.
The new ban against the Islamic face veil (niqab) and full-length burqa in the canton of Ticino is not being effectively enforced, according to reports.
A swimming pool in Basel which is popular with Muslims has banned certain types of burqinis as part of a suite of rule changes designed to improve conditions at the venue.
A ban on wearing niqabs or burqas in public has yet to be implemented in the canton of Ticino but an Algerian businessman is already vowing to “neutralize” it by paying any fines for breaking the law, recently passed by MPs in the southern Swiss canton.
Wearing a burqa in public in the Swiss canton of Ticino will be an offence punishable by a fine of up to 10,000 francs ($9,813), the cantonal parliament decided on Monday.
Police in the French Alps have been forced to hand out notices to tourists wearing the full face veil, many on a day trip from Switzerland, to remind them that France has a total burqa ban in public.
A court in the canton of Saint Gallen has overturned a ban issued by a school on the right of a 13-year-old girl to wear an Islamic headscarf in the classroom.
