Italian police fined a Muslim woman for wearing a full Islamic veil in a street in the northern city of Novara,possibly the first such incident in Italy,city officials said today. "City police ticketed her last night and she will have to pay a 500-euro (USD 650) fine," Mauro Franzinelli of the Novara municipal police said. "As far as I know this is a first in Italy," he said adding that the woman could appeal. Novara,in Italy's northeastern Piedmont region,is a stronghold of the anti-immigration Northern League,a key party in Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's conservative government. The woman,a Tunisian national,was stopped by police officers outside a post office in the company of her husband. When her husband refused to have her identified by male officers they called in a patrol comprising a woman officer. "City hall adopted a decree in late January banning the burqa in public places and their vicinity,which is based on a commentary by the interior ministry who received a copy of the draft," said Franzinelli,who is also a local Northern League official. Covering one's face - with a veil or a motorcycle helmet - in public has been banned in Italy since 1975.
