The motion to ban the burka in the City Hall ignites the Manacor plenary session: "You like to invent problems where there are none"

ManacorThe motion presented by Vox The proposal to prohibit anyone with their face covered from entering municipal premises, an initiative that the far-right group also presented to the town halls of Felanitx and Sa Pobla with the intention of banning items such as the burka and the niqab, ended this Monday with a heated debate between the Vox spokesperson, Esteve Sureda; the PP spokesperson, Maria Antònia Sansó and the mayor of Manacor from Més-Esquerra, Miquel Oliver, who accused them of being racist.

A few days ago, Vox announced that it would present the motion to be debated in the monthly plenary session of the City Council, arguing that it is a matter of public safety and assuring that it does not intend to prohibit the entry of Muslim women who may go, but any person with a cap, sunglasses or a mask who cannot be recognized. "The mayor says that officials will take care of that, that they'll be uncovered, but by the time they do, those people are already inside.

Oliver hinted that perhaps "they won't be able to enter wearing turbans either," referring to the characteristic garment of Esteve Sureda, the most prominent Vox supporter in Manacor. Sureda and his partners would vote against the initiative, given that they consider it clearly xenophobic. "Have you ever seen a woman wearing a burka in Manacor? Because I haven't," Oliver added yesterday. "They boast about feminism, but would they want it for their daughters?" he asked, alluding to the fact that many of these women wear their faces partially covered not by choice. "It needs to be regulated, not just based on the criteria of the official on duty. And what if they don't want to take it off afterwards?"

The People's Party also accused the governing team of "wanting to whitewash the burka issue for votes, as already happened with the mosque, which is still not finished... They have no arguments and no clear ideas."

"All of this is guaranteed," the mayor responded to Sureda, adding: "You like to invent problems where there aren't any. You haven't the faintest idea what goes on in municipal administrations. What is it you don't understand? I invite you to spend a morning at the Town Hall." A new reproach from the Vox representative: "You don't walk around Manacor... Manacor is pathetic!" just before the vote, which Vox lost by 13 votes to 8.