Basel bans anti-Muslim election poster

Geneva - The Swiss canton of Basel-Stadt has banned a political campaign poster it deemed to be racially prejudiced against Muslims, local media reported Tuesday.

The poster, part of a campaign by the right-wing Swiss People's Party (SVP) to forbid minarets across the country, shows a veiled woman, standing next to a Swiss flag which is pierced by menacing- looking towers.

"Stop! Yes for the ban on minarets," is written next to the image, in French- and German- language posters.

The Swiss will vote on a referendum to ban the construction of minarets, put forward by the SVP, on November 29.

Basel decided the posters violated a local law banning posting items which contain racist or discriminatory content.

The Federal Commissioner on Racism is expected to issue a decision later this week on the poster as well.

Cantons across Switzerland await the verdict to figure out their next moves, as some are considering a ban similar to the one in Basel.

Meanwhile, the SVP has threatened to ignore general Swiss codes of conduct and, to get around the ban, would hang their posters in Basel illegally, and not in the designated places for political campaigns.

This is not the first time the SVP has run into accusations of racism.

Previous campaigns the party ran showed black crows tearing away at the flag of Switzerland and white sheep kicking black ones out of the country, both regarding referendums on free movement into Switzerland and other immigration issues.

In Geneva, the conservative party has also faced accusations of intolerance, in relation the neighbouring areas of France.

Campaigns against the French who daily ride into Geneva and work in the canton have turned ugly, with an SVP advertisement employing the word "scum" to describe the border-crossers, who are blamed for crime.

Reaction from France was harsh, and within Geneva, which goes to the polls for the cantonal government this month, there was also anger at the right-wing party.

Members of the SVP in Geneva then set out to renounce the campaign and blame it on a senior party official who they say acted without the party's knowledge.

The SVP faces competition from another conservative party, the MDG, which is a local Geneva grouping. The MDG has made the frontier matter, with the related questions of jobs and crime rates, into its primary campaign issue. (dpa)