Italy’s northeastern region of Lombardy has amended legislation in order to outlaw the burqa and niqab from public offices and hospitals.
The regional government said it has amended a piece of 1975 legislation so as to prevent people from entering public buildings with their faces covered “without a valid reason”.
Until now the traditional burqa and niqab - two types of face veil worn by many Muslim women - have been justifiable on grounds of faith, but they will be outlawed under new rules that take effect on January 1st.
“We have updated the law and now nobody with a covered face will be allowed to enter [public offices and hospitals],” Lombardy governor, Robeto Maroni, from Italy’s right-wing Northern League party told Il Fatto Quotidiano.
The amendment comes after strong rhetoric from party leader, Matteo Salvini, on the subject of Italy’s Muslim community.
In November, Salvini hailed a similar ban in southern Switzerland as “absolutely correct.”
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