Spanish town bans face, body covering for safety

9/17/2011

MADRID -- A small town on the Spanish resort island of Mallorca has banned women from wearing burqas or face-covering Islamic veils in public places.

Mayor Biel Serra of the town of Sa Pobla said Monday night’s vote was not about cultural or religious discrimination but rather an issue of public safety and having people show their faces to be identified.

He said Tuesday that the ban applies to other face-covering headgear such as ski masks.

Sa Pobla joins a handful of other Spanish towns that have some type of ban on body-covering burqas or face-covering niqabs.