Third European country, Holland soon to ban burqa

Holland is expected to ban the wearing of the burqa soon, becoming the third European country after France and Belgium to do so. The Dutch government is expected to agree to introduce the ban on Friday, The Telegraph reported. 

Reports suggest that women caught wearing a burqa in public, on the streets, in public transport and in schools or hospitals, will be fined 330 pounds each.

There will be exemptions for mosques, or other religious buildings and for foreign women travelling through the transit lounges of international Dutch airports, the paper said.

Cabinet ministers are poised to insist that the burqa does “not fit into our open society and women must participate fully.”

The Dutch parliament was the first in Europe to demand a burqa ban in 2005 after voting on a proposal tabled by Geert Wilders, at the start of his career as an anti-Islam politician.

But legislation was delayed by national elections and a change of coalition. Since then, and following elections last year, Wilders, whose Freedom Party has become the third largest Dutch political party, made a ban a condition of his support for the current minority government.