MPs in Austria approved a law on Wednesday aimed at banning the headscarf in primary schools in a measure proposed by the ruling right-wing government.
In order to avoid charges that the law discriminates against Muslims, the text itself refers to any "ideologically or religiously influenced clothing which is associated with the covering of the head".
Representatives of both parts of the governing coalition, the centre-right People's Party (OeVP) and the far-right Freedom Party (FPOe), however, clarified that the law is targeted at the Islamic headscarf.