(Dutch News) The so-called burka ban comes into effect in the Netherlands on August 1, with a €150 fine for people caught wearing face-covering headgear in schools, on public transport, in hospitals and public buildings.
The ban requires public officials and public transport workers to ask people caught covering their faces to remove the offending garment or leave the building. If they refuse, the police will be brought in.
Senators voted last June in favour of the controversial proposals, 13 years after a burka ban was first mooted.
In 2005, the lower house of parliament first supported a motion by Geert Wilders and the PVV for a ban on the public wearing of burkas and in 2010 a total ban was included in the coalition agreement at the behest of the PVV.
