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Journalism of Courage
Italian police fined a Muslim woman for wearing a full Islamic veil in a street in the northern city of Novara,possibly the first such incident in Italy,city officials said today.
“City police ticketed her last night and she will have to pay a 500-euro (USD 650) fine,” Mauro Franzinelli of the Novara municipal police said.
“As far as I know this is a first in Italy,” he said adding that the woman could appeal.
Novara,in Italy’s northeastern Piedmont region,is a stronghold of the anti-immigration Northern League,a key party in Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s conservative government.
The woman,a Tunisian national,was stopped by police officers outside a post office in the company of her husband.
When her husband refused to have her identified by male officers they called in a patrol comprising a woman officer.
“City hall adopted a decree in late January banning the burqa in public places and their vicinity,which is based on a commentary by the interior ministry who received a copy of the draft,” said Franzinelli,who is also a local Northern League official.
Covering one’s face – with a veil or a motorcycle helmet — in public has been banned in Italy since 1975.
