Belgium considers ban on Islamic face coverings [View All]

CNN) -- The latest round in the battle of the burqa kicks off Thursday in Belgium, which could become the first country in Europe to ban face coverings worn by observant Muslim women.

Lawmakers are considering a ban in all public places on niqabs, veils that cover the face, as well as burqas, which cover the face and everything else from head to toe.

They're motivated both by security and morality, they say.

"We think all people in public places must show their face," says Denis Ducarme. And, he says, "We must defend our values in the question of the freedom and the dignity of the woman."

His liberal Reformist Movement drafted the legislation, and claims broad cross-party support.

Ducarme denies that Islam requires women to wear burqas or niqabs.

"The majority of Muslims in Belgium and Europe don't accept the burqa, don't accept the niqab. It's only 10 percent who are radical," he says, blaming trends from Pakistan and Afghanistan for encouraging facial covering.

And he rejects the suggestion that the proposed ban smacks of intolerance, saying it is the burqa -- and the Islamist movement -- that are truly intolerant and dangerous.

He estimates that 300 to 400 women in the country wear the niqab or the burqa.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/04/21/belgium.burqa.ban/index.html?hpt=T2