Typically Tolerant Swiss Vote Overwhelmingly to Approve Ban on Mosque Minarets

Prophet's Mosque in Medina, Saudi Arabia

Swiss voters gave the world a bit of a surprise Sunday when they overwhelmingly approved a constitutional ban prohibiting minarets on mosques, a move that puts Switzerland on the front lines of European backlash against a growing Muslim population.

From the Associated Press:

The sponsors of the initiative provoked complaints of bias from local officials and human-rights group with campaign posters that showed minarets rising like missiles from the Swiss flag next to a fully veiled woman. Backers said the growing Muslim population was straining the country “because Muslims don’t just practice religion.”

“The minaret is a sign of political power and demand, comparable with whole-body covering by the burqa, tolerance of forced marriage and genital mutilation of girls,” the sponsors said. They said Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan compared mosques to Islam’s military barracks and called “the minarets our bayonets.” Erdogan made the comment in citing an Islamic poem many years before he became prime minister.

Despite the fact that Muslims make up only 6 percent of Switzerland’s population, the initiative was approved 57.5 to 42.5 percent by some 2.67 million voters.

This isn’t the first time Switzerland’s People’s Party, that backed the bill, has campaigned against immigrants. According to the Associated Press, some of the group’s previous efforts include plastering the country with posters showing white sheep kicking a black sheep off the Swiss flag and another with brown hands grabbing eagerly for Swiss passports.

Of course the vote doesn’t represent the voice of all Swiss citizens. AP reports that about 300 people turned out for a spontaneous demonstration on the square outside parliament, holding up signs saying, “That is not my Switzerland,” placing candles in front of a model of a minaret and making another minaret shape out of the candles themselves.

[Via: Associated Press]