The largest party in the Swiss parliament is attempting to pass legislation that would ban minarets on buildings. The right-wing Swiss People’s Party argues that minarets (pictured right) are not required for worship, but rather are a symbol of Islamic law.
Across the country, there are only two small minarets, one in Zurich and one in Geneva, neither of which are permitted to make the call to prayer. In Switzerland’s capital Berne, the largest mosque is in a former underground car park.
Tensions between Europe’s governments and large Muslim immigrant population are on the rise. Do measure such as this help to reduce extremism or simply fuel the fire? Either way there is certainly an escalation on both sides and few attempts at looking at the causes of fundamentalism and reactionism.