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Switzerland to hold referendum to ban minarets

November 29, 2009 -- Updated 1204 GMT (2004 HKT)

(CNN) -- Switzerland was due to hold a referendum Sunday on whether to ban the construction of minarets that some in the far-right see as a sign of encroaching Islamism.
Some polls taken ahead of the referendum showed that as much as 51 percent of the population was against any kind of ban. But support for a ban has been growing, the polls found.
Minarets are tall spires extending from mosques or built next to them. They help identify a mosque and also serve as a spot where a religious leader can call the faithful to daily prayers.
Switzerland has only four minarets. If the referendum passes, they will remain.
The move to amend the constitution to ban new construction is part of a campaign by the nationalist Swiss People's Party (SVP).
The party says the minarets are political symbols and therefore go against the country's constitution.
It designed fliers that feature a veiled woman against a background of a Swiss flag pierced by several minarets resembling missiles.
The Federal Commission against Racism denounced the posters, saying they "defame Switzerland's peaceful Muslim population, feed prejudice and portray the Muslim community as wanting to dominate Switzerland, oppress women and trample on fundamental rights."
The SVP has courted controversy with its campaigns in the past. In 2007, it faced international criticism for leading an anti-immigration campaign during the federal election that featured a poster with a white sheep kicking a black sheep off a Swiss flag.
Under party leader Christoph Blocher, it went on to win the biggest share of the vote in the 200-member parliament, taking 55 seats.

Earlier this year, the party issued a poster depicting crows pecking at a map of Switzerland, as the country prepared to vote on whether to support an extension of a free movement of labor deal with the European Union that would include new members, Bulgaria and Romania.

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