According to Austrian daily newspaper Kronen Zeitung, the incident took place at a toy store at Vienna's railway terminal. Police, informed of a possible infraction of Austria's recently-passed anti face-covering laws, entered the store and told the ninja to remove his mask. The 'lawbreaker' turned out to be a female advertising worker.
Polizei stürmt Lego-Store in Wien. Grund: Verstoß gegen das Vermummungsverbot. pic.twitter.com/enBae4oocR
— Mevlüt Kücükyasar (@MevluetK) October 20, 2017
Eyewitness at the scene on Twitter: "Police stormed a Lego store in Vienna. Reason: violation of the law on face-coverings."
The police concluded that no laws had been broken, because the woman covered her face in accordance with professional requirements.
Other European countries, including France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Bulgaria have introduced similar bans, most of them specifically aimed at Islamic face coverings. However, some Austrians have complained that their broader ban may have gone too far, with dozens of people, some of them dressed in funny costumes, getting into trouble with police.
This week, Lesko, a giant light blue and yellow bunny serving as the Austrian parliament's children's mascot, got into trouble with police while shooting a promotional video outside parliament. Police stormed the scene and forced the actor and forced him to take off his mask to check his identity.
This rabbit "Lesko" is stoped in Austria by police. Its forbidden to wear masks. He has to show the face. pic.twitter.com/QqWqEAhm3w
— peter kurt weiss (@miquelon1948) October 20, 2017
Before that, a young man in a shark costume promoting an Apple store was fined 150 euros after refusing to remove his shark head.
Man dressed as Shark mascot fined in Austria under new anti-Burka law pic.twitter.com/ZmUGxGlW86
— adland ® (@adland) October 12, 2017
Since the face-covering ban's introduction, police have stopped over 30 people, including clowns, bikers, and people wearing scarves over their face.
