Swiss minaret ban is religious oppression, Kouchner says

Paris - Sunday's vote by Swiss voters to ban the construction of additional minarets in the country is an expression of intolerance and religious oppression, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said Monday. The vote "is negative regarding what worries even the Swiss because if the construction of minarets is not allowed this means that a religion is oppressed," Kouchner told RTL radio.

"I'm a little scandalized by this decision," Kouchner added, which he compared to the banning of bell towers. "It's an expression of intolerance and I detest intolerance."

Kouchner added that he hoped the Swiss would reverse the decision "quickly."

However, the Swiss vote may find a sympathetic echo in France, where controversy has been brewing over the wearing of the burqa by a small number of Muslim women and the construction of a large mosque in Marseille that will have two 25-meter-high minarets.