Why did Switzerland decide to ban minarets?
Some reactions by the victorious camp in favour of the ban on minarets after the referendum on Sunday, 29 October: “Forced marriages and other things like cemeteries separating the pure and impure – we don’t have that in Switzerland and we don’t want to introduce it.” Ulrich Schlüer, co-president of the Initiative Committee to ban minarets. “Society wants to put a safeguard on the political-legal wing of Islam, for which there is no separation between state and religion.” Oskar Freysinger, member of the Swiss People’s Party and a driving force in the campaign “People who settle here have to realise that they can’t turn up to work in a head scarf or get special dispensation from swimming lessons.” Toni Brunner, president of the People’s Party (all quotes from SwissInfo) If one listens to its initiators, yesterday’s referendum was not about the construction of new minarets in Switzerland at all. The organizers of the campaign admit quite frankly what was really rejected: their image of a
