Switzerland: Go-ahead for poster with 'racist image of Islam'



We read:

"Zurich city council said yesterday that a poster showing missile-like minarets on a Swiss flag can be displayed ahead of a national referendum on whether to ban the building of minarets at mosques in Switzerland. Zurich followed Lucerne and Geneva in arguing that the posters, which also feature a veiled woman with 'menacing eyes', were protected by free speech.

Basel and Lausanne have banned them saying they paint a 'racist, disrespectful and dangerous image' of Islam.

The posters, which urge a ban on the building of minarets, are part of a campaign by the nationalist Swiss People's Party.

Zurich city council said it disapproved of the posters - which also feature a veiled woman with what could be seen as menacing eyes - because they portrayed Islam as 'threatening, negative and dangerous'. But officials said the posters had to be accepted as part of political free speech in the run-up to the November 29 vote.

The posters argue that the construction of new minarets should be banned because they are a symbol of Islamic political conquest rather than religious freedom. So far, there are four minarets in Switzerland.

The Alpine country saw a large influx of Muslim refugees from former Yugoslavia during the 1990s, and now has over 310,000 Muslim residents, or about four per cent of the population - more than in Britain, where Muslims form 2.7 per cent of the population, according to a recent study by the Pew Forum on Religion.

Source

Translation of the text on the poster: "Stop this. Yes to the ban on minarets"