Fined for wearing burqa in Italy

Italian police fined a woman €500 for wearing a full Islamic veil - the first punishment of its kind in Italy but the latest in a wave of sanctions against the burqa in Europe.

The 26-year-old Tunisian woman was walking in a street in the northwestern city of Novara on Monday when she was stopped by a patrol, local police said.

"City police ticketed her last night and she will have to pay a €500 fine," Novara municipal police official Mauro Franzinelli said. "As far as I know this is a first in Italy."

Representatives of the Islamic community in Italy warned that the issue was a delicate one, but agreed that police in Novara were simply following the rules and said the issue was not a religious one.

"The real needs of Muslims are those of being able to practice their religion, not to cover up their wives or sisters or daughters," said Yahya Pallavicini, vice president of Italy's Islamic Religious Community organisation.