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Women in part of Switzerland who wear a burka or niqab in public could be fined up to £6,500 when a new law comes into force.

Tourists would not be exempt from the rules, but people arriving at airports and crossing the border into Ticino from Italy will be told about the penalty, according to Swiss news site The Local.

It comes two years after voters in the Italian-speaking district opted to ban the full-body covering sometimes worn by Muslim women in public.

Both the burka and the niqab, which has a gap for the eyes, will be illegal when the law is brought in – but masks and other face coverings worn by protesters would still be legal.

MPs on Monday voted in favour of attaching a fine to the offence of wearing a burka or niqab in public.

The penalty ranges from 100 Swiss francs to 10,000 Swiss francs.

Security was ramped up outside the parliament building during the vote, The Local reported.

The ban itself, which won over 65 per cent of voters during a 2013 referendum, was condemned at the time by Amnesty International as “a black day for human rights in Ticino”.

Ticino has a population of 350,000, about two per cent of whom are Muslim.