Poll: Five major European countries support burka ban

The results of Financial Times' Harris poll show that some 70 per cent of respondents in France said they supported plans to prohibit the wearing of the Islamic garment covering the female body from head to toe. 

65 per cent favoured a ban in Spain and 63 per cent supported it in Italy.

In Britain, some 57 per cent of people backed a ban, while some 50 per cent supported it in Germany.

“This poll shows that the number of people in France opposed to the burka is going up and that is the product of debate on burka and national identity,” said Professor Patrick Weil, an expert on national identity at the University of Paris-Sorbonne. “But the figure is clearly going up in other countries in Europe like the UK as well, and that reflects the growing concern that there is about this issue in some parts of Europe.”