Islam-wary Swiss may ban minarets

Published: 3:22AM Thursday July 02, 2009 Source: Reuters

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Switzerland will hold a referendum on banning the construction of new minarets on November 29 in response to a petition for a popular vote on the issue, the government said.
   
A group of politicians from the Swiss People's Party (SVP) and Federal Democratic Union gathered enough signatures last year to force the referendum, but the government opposes a ban.
   
Switzerland is home to more than 300,000 Muslims - about four percent of the population - as well as hundreds of mosques, but only a handful of the mosques have a minaret tower and applications to build more prompted the campaign for a ban.
   
Supporters of a ban say minarets do not have any religious justification but are symbols of Islamic power which injures Swiss constitutional rights to religious freedom.
   
The right-wing SVP, the country's biggest party which won 29% of the vote in the last election, has drawn accusations of racism for its anti-immigration campaigns, including one featuring white sheep kicking a black sheep off a Swiss flag.
   
The government said last year it was against a ban, saying it would violate international human rights and the country's constitution and might incite tensions between religions and hinder integration of the Muslim population.

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