Just in from Reuters via the New York Times:
“The government has decided it will not impose a general ban on the wearing of burqas and similar garments in public on security grounds, but will bar them and full-face veils at schools and for government workers, local news reports said. They said the government had concluded that a broad ban would violate the constitutionally guaranteed freedom of religion. About a million Muslims live in the Netherlands, and Muslim groups say just 50 to 100 women regularly wear a burqa. Geert Wilders, the right-wing leader of an anti-immigration party, sent a bill to Parliament last July proposing a ban on the burqa in public.”
I’m glad Geert didn’t get his way. He’s cruising for a bike-by assassination like Fortuyn and Van Gogh, but it’s not right that he’s stirring up so much hate as he goes. No matter how you feel about burqas, banning them takes away freedom of expression and fuels fringe radicals. “Security grounds” my ass.
greta post :)