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BURQA

Sweden mayor compares burqa with slavery

A mayor in southern Sweden on Friday wrote on his blog that the burqa ought to be banned, describing women wearing the Islamic veil as modern-day “slaves”.

Sweden mayor compares burqa with slavery
A Muslim woman wearing a full-faced veil. Photo: Fred Ernst/ TT

Bo Frank, the conservative mayor of the city of Växjö in southern Sweden, on Friday suggested that women should be banned from wearing full-faced veils.

“It ought to be banned!! It (the burqa) doesn’t belong in Sweden. Europe, the world,” he wrote on his blog after seeing two men accompanying a veiled woman in the city, adding the incident “pi**d me off”*

He went on to describe the woman as the men’s “slave”.

 “To wear a mask, a balaclava, is so far from the modern world we live in. I find it extremely off-putting,” he told local newspaper Smålandsposten, but removed the suggestion to ban the veil shortly after speaking to the daily.

“Yes, I interpreted it almost as a form of slavery. It doesn’t feel right considering we host a Pride week in Växjö,” he said, referring to the city’s annual LGBT festival.

“That the face is covered in public places is not desirable. It’s not fair, and doesn’t belong in equal Sweden in 2015.”