Islamophobia: Swiss far right seeks vote on minarets ban

Switzerland braced itself for a troubled campaign of Islamophobia yesterday after the far right drummed up enough support to force a national vote to ban minarets. In a country that is home to more than 300,000 Muslims but boasts only three minarets, a series of court cases and votes in regional parliaments has recently dismissed attempts to have minarets outlawed. But a campaign, led by the rightwing populists of the Swiss People's party, to enshrine a ban on minarets in the Swiss constitution yesterday mustered more than enough signatures to warrant a referendum on the sensitive issue. Disputes over mosque and minaret-building are rife across Europe, with controversies in Germany, Austria, Italy, and the Netherlands. In Switzerland, Christoph Blocher's anti-immigrant Swiss People's party, which won the national elections... [read full story]