Second Catalan city adopts burqa ban

A second city in Catalonia yesterday adopted a local ban on the burqa and the niqab, the face-covering Muslim women's garment that has provoked debate in Europe, Spanish news media said.

The decision by the city council of Vendrell, home to 26,000 people in a wine-growing area to the west of Barcelona, follows a move two weeks ago in the bigger inland city of Lerida to prohibit such outfits in municipal buildings.

A third Catalan city, Girona, is to decide on Monday whether to follow suit, while opposition conservatives have said they would be proposing a burqa and niqab ban to the Catalan regional assembly.

Immigration from Muslim countries - notably nearby Morocco - has grown since the 1990s in Spain, with Catalonia being home to a large community of Pakistani origin.