Switzerland risks Muslim backlash after minarets vote

Switzerland risked a Muslim backlash on Sunday after its citizens voted overwhelmingly to ban minarets on mosques.
By Alexandra Williams in Geneva
29 Nov 2009

The legally-binding referendum result had not been widely expected and was a huge embarrassment for the neutral government in Switzerland.

In the run-up to the vote it had warned that a ban would "serve the interests of extremist circles" and damage economic ties with Muslim states.

Anti-immigrant right-wing populists had championed the vote and led an emotive campaign. The Swiss People's Party (SVP), the country's largest in terms of popular support and membership in parliament, used posters depicting a woman in a burka in front of minarets shaped like missiles rising from a Swiss flag.

"We're enormously happy. It is a victory for this people, this Switzerland, this freedom and those who want a democratic society," Walter Wobmann, president of the initiative committee, said in a victory speech. "We just want to stop further Islamisation in Switzerland." the rest

Women lead Swiss in vote to ban minarets.