17 January 2017, 16:55 GMT
ROME (Sputnik) — Italy’s northern Liguria region may soon ban Muslim women from wearing a face-and-body veil called at medical facilities for security reasons, local health minister Sonia Viale said Tuesday.
The regional council will vote on the ban proposed by Viale, its vice-president and member of the Lega Nord party, on Friday, the local ANSA news agency reported.
"I believe approving this anti-discriminatory measure will be the right thing to do," the health minister was quote by the agency as saying. "This is also in line with the existing security regulations at our institutions."
Other parties decried the proposal, which came ahead of the international women’s day, as an insult to women. The ruling Democratic Party warned the ban could be divisive. Burqas and niqabs were banned at hospitals in neighboring Lombardy in late 2015 after terrorist attacks in Paris.
