Burka ban support

Miquel Caldés, a resident in Sa Pobla said yesterday that if Majorcan society is to wipe out racism, bylaws need to be based on equality.
And in fact a council cleaner in Sa Pobla, Baghdad Elaissaoui said that the burka, an Islamic form of dress for women that covers the entire body and face, is already banned in many Arab countries, particularly in the workplace. The burka is entirely different, he said, from the Islamic headscarf which in no way disguises the identity of the wearer.

The proposed amendment to already-existing bylaws will be debated on Monday at a full Council meeting but it is already known that opposition groups are also showing support for the ban, Partido Popular Mayor Biel Serra said yesterday.

Socialist spokesman Lluís Socias said that on such an issue it was important to secure widespread backing, but he said that in the run-up to the local elections in May, Mayor Serra had courted the local Islamic community but was now applying measures which will affect their customs.

Joan Comas of an Independent coalition party in Sa Pobla said that his members were largely in favour of the amendment, but asked that if the Mayor had wanted all-party backing for the proposal, why had he left it right until the last moment to secure consensus?

Other parties in opposition on Sa Pobla council, including the Majorcan Socialists (PSM), said that there was something rather unethical about the Mayor speaking freely to the media about his proposals before other parties were even aware of his intentions. But the Mayor retorted that he was now settling in just a few months, an issue which the Socialists had failed to do within a four year term of office.