The far-right Vox party has managed to pass a motion to ban women wearing face coverings such as the burka and niqab from entering public institutions in Arrecife.
The motion was passed with support from the conservative PP and the abstention of Coalición Canaria (CC) councillors.
The motion was opposed by Socialist councillors, who described it as “racist, xenophobic” and claimed that it “stigmatizes a minority, seeking solely and exclusively to stir up hatred”.
Vox councillor Eugenio Hernández Cabrera defended the measure, saying the burka and niqab were “garments without roots in our country”. He proposed an access system in which women council officials could check the identity of anyone entering public buildings in private.
PP councillor Eli Merino said her party supported the measure for “security reasons relating to identification.”
Socialist councillor Alfred Mendoza, however, questioned whether the measure had anything to do with security. “What genuine problems exist to justify this measure?” he asked. “Without any data this is not about management, but about propaganda.”
Maite Corujo, speaker for the CC on the council, also expressed discomfort with the measure. “Who are we to prohibit a cultural and religious element?” she said, claiming that the Ayuntamiento was “the house of the people, of the people in their globality.”
The effects of the ban are likely to be minimal. Most Muslims on Lanzarote are from Morocco or Western Sahara, where neither the niqab nor the burka are traditionally worn, and the hijab, a headscarf that allows the face to be seen, is more normally worn.
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