An update on this story. "Spanish town becomes first to ban face-covering veils," from Agence France-Presse, December 9 (thanks to all who sent this in):
A northern Spanish town brought into force Thursday a ban on Islamic face-covering veils in municipal buildings, the first such decree in the country.
The town of Lleida, population 120,000, approved in July a municipal ban on body-covering burqas or face-covering niqab garments at about 130 locations, ranging from civic centres to swimming pools.
The law, implemented Thursday, was the first of its kind in Spain, where face-covering Islamic garments are seldom seen despite a sharp rise in immigration from Muslim countries over the past decade.
"I believe the burqa and the hijab, as well as similar garments that completely cover the face are an attack against equality between men and women, they are an attack against women's dignity," Lleida mayor Angel Ros said.
"I believe also that equality is something which our society has fought several years for and there can be no reason, not religious, not cultural, that attacks this basic principle," he said in an interview.
The law prohibits the "use of the veil and other clothes and accessories which cover the face and prevent identification in buildings and installations of the town hall."
Repeat offenders face fines of 600 euros ($795).
The Islamic veil has sparked intense debate in many European countries, with France in October passing a law to ban the wearing of the niqab and other face-coverings in public places.
The issue is a relatively new one for Spain, an overwhelmingly Roman Catholic country.
The number of immigrants living in Spain soared from around half a million in 1996 to 5.7 million last year, out of a total population of just under 47 million people.
Bravo Lleida! Rioting in the Islamic world to follow in 3...2...1...
No doubt the Muslims are going to test this ruling...I hope the security forces are prepared for violence by the Muslims...
Great news.
Spain..........Bravo
This is a refreshing news and bravissimo to Spain!!!! The West will triump against evil
Isabelle
Kaixo!
Me gusta mucho leer esta historia! Espero que toda Espana haga lo mismo...
Feliz Navidad a todos!
Agur!
Such is the root of such evil, which is Islam! Children & women in Islamic culture, are treated as complete property of men as mainly sexual slaves and breeders (the forcing of children to wear the veil is actually sexual grooming for Islamic Pedophiles!)! After all, that's one of the main reason why the Arabic Mohammed created Islam, because his violent and primitive Arabic culture does not want women or children/girls to be free individuals as graced and taught by our Lord Jesus Christ!
Five million Muslim immigrants in fourteen years. That is a huge number. Does Spain have absolutely no border controls? Or if it wants immigrants, can't it take Spanish speakers from South America?
Banning face veils is not going to achieve much in the face of such high numbers.
What about, for a start: "Sorry, the country's full"?
No crec que realment tingui efecte aquesta mesura...quina diferencia tab gran hi ha entre totes les modalitats de vel??
Soylent:
Si per que es prohibeix el burka i tot indementària que cobreix totalment la cara. En fet, Tribunal Superior de Justicia de Catalunya ha sentenciat que el reglement no es contrari a la Constitucion ni al Estatut. Amés, la gent n'esta farta del musulmans que es passen de nostres tradicions i cultura.
PJG:
The sad anwser is no. Part of the problem is that the Moroccan government is complicit in this flooding and successive Spanish governments have done nothing to be very serious to stop it. Also, the autonomic governments are somewhat powerless because immigration is an exclusive national competency. But there was a controversy early this year when the mayor of Vic refused to grant anymore the padro which is the residency document that letys immigrants stay in a municipality. He argued that the immigrants were abusing it as well as their influx was causing serious tensions.
xavier
Has any culture that has allowed Muslims to become a significant percentage of its culture ever survived the constant, unrelenting civil war Muslims create to destroy that culture? Don’t think so. Muslims don't want peace, they want victory. Recent examples:
-8/17/09 AdnKronos International: Bosnia’s Muslim spiritual leader Mustafa Ceric called for Sharia law and declared Christian Serbian Muslim-majority territory boarding Montenegro as Muslim homelands.
-8/19/10 AndKronos Int’l: Muslims claim land INSIDE Montenegro as Muslim homelands.
-8/20/10 AsiaNews, Kashmir: Extremist Muslims are demanding Sikhs convert or leave.
-3/16/00 Asia Times, Philippines: The Islamic Command Council is calling for an independent Islamic state in Mindanao.
-8/14/10 AINA, Egypt: Sheikh Tobah, imam of Shimi, incites Muslim extremist mob to attack Christian Copts in two days of violence.
Muslims are in their 500th year of civil war against the unbelievers in the Balkans – they’re winning. And BTW, Bosnian Muslims are the ones we saved in the 90's by bombing the crap out of Serbian Christians. Are we going to bomb the crap out of Buddhists, Sikhs, Copts and Philippine Christians if they start killing Muslims in retaliation?
Google-search “civil wars in the world” and you'll find that Muslims are involved in civil wars in:
China, Russia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Bosnia, Serbia, Cyprus, Pakistan, India, Indonesia-Ambon & Halmarhera,, Ambon, Lebanon, Côte d'Ivoire, Kashmir, Kosovo, Kurdistan, Macedonia, Nigeria, Philippines, Somalia, Jordan, Iran, Lebanon, Uzbekistan, Turkey, Chechnya, Sudan, Yemen, Chad and Thailand.
Civil war, led by Muslim extremists and passively accepted by moderate Muslims (when’s the last time you saw Muslims march in the streets against Al Qaeda?) is inevitable wherever large numbers of Muslims live.
After a day or two of viewing the faces of islamic women, the good ciudadanos of Lleida might well opt for a hasty return to the veil.