The northern city of Cossato on Friday became the third local authority in Italy to impose fines on women who cover their faces in public. The head-to-toe Islamic burqa and the niqab, which leaves the eyes visible are not specifically named in the by-law but are understood to be its target.
The fines will range from 25 to 100 euros. Elsewhere in northern Italy, Varallo and Novara city councils have already imposed fines on burqa and niqab wearers.
“There’s no security emergency in Cossato. But I want to stress that people coming to our country have obligations as well as rights,” said mayor Claudio Corradino, who belongings to Italy’s anti-immigrant Northern League party.
The burqa and niqab are a sensitive issue in Italy and elsewhere in Europe, where many people see them as a security threat, as well as a symbol of the oppression of women and an obstacle to integration.
The Northern League party, a coalition partner in Italy’s conservative government, made strong gains in recent regional elections in northern Italy.
The northeastern Veneto and northern Piedmont regions elected Northern League governors.
A row erupted on Wednesday after Novara city council on fined a Tunisian woman 500 euros after she she was apprehended by police wearing a burqa outside a post office.
The move drew criticism from Muslim groups and politicians from Italy’s centre-left opposition.
It was Italy’s first such fine and made possible after Novara city council, which is dominated by the Northern League, introduced a controversial by-law in January banning clothing which prevented immediate identification in public.
A 1975 Italian law to combat domestic terrorism forbids any mask or clothing that makes it impossible to identify the wearer, while allowing for some exceptions.
Belgium’s lower house of parliament on 30 April backed a bill making it illegal to wear clothing that covers all or part of the face. The country is likely to become the first to impose such a ban.
French MPs are also due to debate whether there should be restrictions Islamic garments that fully cover a woman’s body and face.