Date:31/10/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/10/31/stories/2006103103781300.htm

International

U.K. mulls ban on flag-burning

Hasan Suroor

LONDON: Hooded protesters burning the Union Jack or the flag of any other country may become a rare sight in Britain if the Government accepts a Scotland Yard proposal to ban flag-burning on grounds that it amounts to inciting violence.

Police have also called for a ban on people wearing masks during public demonstrations to conceal their identity.

However, it would not apply to Muslim women who wear burqa. In recent months, extremist Muslim groups have burnt flags while protesting against newspaper cartoons of Prophet Muhammad and the Pope's comments on Islam.

There have also been incidents of anti-war protesters burning the American flag and effigies of U.S. President George W. Bush. According to media reports, the immediate provocation for the police to act might have been a recent incident outside Westminster Cathedral in London when members belonging to a radical Islamist group, protesting the Pope's remarks, reportedly harassed churchgoers.