Austria is the latest of several European countries to ban the burka, the full covering worn by some Muslim women in public. Except that Austria didn’t ban the burka per se—that would be religiously discriminatory. Instead, they simply made it against the law to wear anything in public that covers the face. As if to prove that the anti-face-covering law isn’t just an anti-burka law in disguise, Austrian authorities have been policing costumes as well as the traditional Muslim coverings.
Caught up in the net, according to Newsweek, was the mascot for a recently opened electronics store in Vienna, McSHARK. A young man in a head-to-toe (or is that snout-to- tail?) shark costume was drumming up business on the sidewalk in front of the shop when police descended on him. According to the local paper Heute, the man at first refused to remove his shark head, telling officers “I’m just doing my job.”
The police were just doing their jobs too, which entailed breaking out the citation-books.
“Our shark mascot received a fine from the Vienna police because of the new ban on face-coverings!” McSHARK said on its Facebook page. “Life is not easy!”
Say what you will about the absurdity of the edict, at least you won’t find any Times-Square Elmos in Vienna.
