SHOTLIST 29 April, 2010 1. Wide interior shot of Belgian parliament 2. Close of court screen which reads (Dutch/French) "The proposal for the banning of clothing that totally hides the face" 3. Female politician voting electronically 4. Pull out from electronic scorecard showing 136 votes in favour of "burqa ban", none opposed, 2 abstentions to wide of parliament applauding 5. Close of electronic screen showing red for abstentions, green for "yes" votes 6. Belgian flag outside parliament 7. Wide exterior of Parliament building, with Belgian and EU flags 8. SOUNDBITE: (French) Jacques Otlet, Mouvement Reformateur, Member of Belgian Parliament: "It is a question of respect. We want to respect the women, to confirm the legality of man/woman in our country. And there is also evidently a security aspect which intervenes, because if all the inhabitants of Belgium for one reason or another decide to hide the face, how can everyone communicate together, because the face allows us to recognise each other. These are the fundamental reasons for the vote today." 9. Statues inside Parliament lobby 10. Politician making speech on burqa issue earlier in day 11. Various of woman wearing a headscarf in public viewing gallery 12. Wide of Parliament debate 22 April, 2010 13. Various shots of woman wearing a burqa-type Islamic dress, walking around park 9 April, 2010 14. Various shots of women wearing headscarves, which are not being banned STORYLINE Belgium's lower house of parliament on Thursday banned burqa-type Islamic dress in public but the measure faces a sudden hurdle in the Senate, putting an early enactment of the law in doubt. Christian Democrats and Liberals in the Senate questioned on Thursday the phrasing of the law that holds no one can appear in public "with the face fully or partly covered so as to render them no longer recognisable." Following the April 22 fall of Premier Yves Leterme's government of Christian Democrats, Liberals and Socialists, Belgium faces early elections. That may delay passage of the anti-burqa law by many months. The measure was approved unopposed by the lower house's interior affairs committee March 31 and the lower house itself. "If all the inhabitants of Belgium for one reason or another decide to hide the face, how can everyone communicate together, because the face allows us to recognise each other. These are the fundamental reasons for the vote today," said Jacques Otlet, a Belgian MP. The initiative when passed is expected to become law in July and would apply to all public places, including streets. Anxieties that visible signs of Islam erode national identity are merging with complaints that immigrants are stealing jobs amid the worst economic slump in decades, to deepen a sense of unease in many European countries, small and large alike, over the role of Muslims in society. Threats against cartoonists and artists over depictions of the prophet Muhammad have also raised fears that Islam is not compatible with Western values of freedom of speech. Swiss voters recently voted to ban the construction of new minarets. In recent years, both mosque and minaret construction projects in many European countries, including Sweden, France, Italy, Austria, Greece, Germany and Slovenia have generated protests, some of them violent. French President Nicolas Sarkozy favours a ban on burqa-style Islamic veils on the grounds that they don't respect French values or women's dignity. Unlike the Belgians or the Dutch - who see a clear and straightforward public security issue - the French are struggling with the constitutionality of outlawing a religious dress code. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/d879ec36b3d8158a445e96fa4c2e0acb Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork

• published: 24 Jul 2015
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