Italy shows us how it's done

From the BBC:

A woman visiting a post office in Novara, north-western Italy, has been stopped by police for wearing an Islamic veil covering her face. A police official told the AFP news agency the woman would have to pay a 500-euro (£430) fine.

It is the first such police action since Novara brought in a by-law in January banning clothing preventing immediate identification in public...

Novara Mayor Massimo Giordano said the by-law was meant to deter women from covering themselves with the veil in public. "But unfortunately it is apparently not yet clear to everyone that clothes preventing the wearer's identification can be tolerated at home but not in public places, in schools, on buses or in post offices," he said, according to the Italian state news agency Ansa. "There are still some people that refuse to understand that our community in Novara does not accept and does not want people going around wearing the burka."

He said the by-law was "the only tool at our disposal to stop behaviour that makes the already difficult process of integration even harder"...

Italy has, since 1975, had a national anti-terrorism law which forbids any mask or clothing that makes it impossible to identify the wearer. However, the law permits exceptions for "justified cause", which has often been interpreted by courts as including religious reasons for wearing a veil, Ansa reports...