‘Blatant racism’: Australian senator wears burqa in parliament to push ban, sparking outrage
Sydney: Australian far-right Senator Pauline Hanson wore a burqa in Parliament on Monday as part of her renewed push for a public ban on the Islamic garment. The stunt drew immediate backlash from Muslim senators, who slammed it as “blatant racism."
Hanson wore the burqa shortly after she was denied permission to introduce a bill seeking to outlaw the full-body garment and other full-face coverings in public places in Australia, as reported by news agency Reuters.
It marked the second time she had used the garment, worn by several Muslim women, in parliament in an effort to ban the public wearing of burqas.
The Senate erupted in anger as she walked into the chamber wearing the burqa, and proceedings were suspended when Hanson refused to remove it.
“This is a racist senator, displaying blatant racism,” said Mehreen Faruqi, a Greens senator from the state of New South Wales. Independent senator Fatima Payman of Western Australia described the incident as “disgraceful.”
Penny Wong, leader of the centre-left Labor government in the Senate, and Anne Ruston, deputy Senate leader for the opposition coalition, both rebuked the stunt.
“The act was not worthy of a member of the Australian Senate,” Reuters quoted Wong as saying. She moved a motion to suspend Hanson for failing to remove the garment. When Hanson declined to leave the chamber, the Senate was forced to suspend proceedings.
Hanson, a Queensland senator who rose to prominence in the 1990s for her hardline views on immigration and asylum seekers, has long campaigned against Islamic clothing. In a Facebook statement after the incident, she said her actions were a protest against the Senate’s refusal to support her proposed ban.
“So if the Parliament won’t ban it, I will display this oppressive, radical, non-religious head garb that risks? Our national security and the ill-treatment of women on the floor of our parliament so that every Australian knows what’s at stake,” Hanson said in the statement. “If they don’t want me wearing it – ban the burqa,” she added.
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Man held for rape, assault of elderly woman in Kerala
Thiruvananthapuram (PTI): A 20-year-old man has been arrested for allegedly raping and assaulting an 85-year-old woman and abandoning her on the roadside in this district, police said on Saturday.
The incident took place under Venjaramoodu police station limit on Wednesday evening.
Agin, a lottery agent, was apprehended on Friday, they said.
According to police, the elderly woman was taken into a deserted building by the accused, raped, brutally beaten with a stick, causing injuries, and was later abandoned on the roadside.
Locals noticed the woman with severe head and facial injuries and rushed her to a nearby hospital, from where she was shifted to the government medical college later.
Though initially injuries suggested that she was brutally beaten up by someone, a detailed medical examination confirmed the rape.
Based on the statement of the woman and some local vendors in the area, the police identified the accused and nabbed him later.
"As per the statement of his family, he is suspected of having a mental disorder and the habit of committing such assaults following an accident. An investigation is on," a police officer said.
He was remanded to judicial custody by a local court and the woman was discharged from hospital, police added.
