Vienna

Ban on headscarves in primary schools: Austria’s new government – a coalition of the centre-right People’s Party and the far-right Freedom Party – has announced plans to ban young children, up to around the age of ten, from wearing headscarves to kindergarten or school. Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said the goal was to “confront any development of parallel societies in Austria”, a phrase used by both Kurz’s party and his far-right allies to describe what they see as the threat posed to traditional Austrian culture by some Muslims. The education minister said the “child protection law”, which will be drawn up later this year, was a “symbolic act” aimed at protecting Austrian culture. Last year, Austria’s head of state, President Alexander Van der Bellen, called on all women to wear headscarves in a protest against what he said was a surge in Islamophobia in the country.