Swiss citizens have voted in favour of banning face coverings in public, including the burka or niqab worn by some Muslim women.
Official results showed the measure had passed by 51.2% to 48.8% in Sunday’s referendum.
The proposal was put forward and championed by the Swiss People’s Party (SVP).
“In Switzerland, our tradition is that you show your face. That is a sign of our basic freedoms,” Walter Wobmann, chairman of the referendum committee and a member of parliament for the Swiss People’s Party, had said before the vote.
Mr Wobmann called facial covering “a symbol for this extreme, political Islam which has become increasingly prominent in Europe and which has no place in Switzerland”.
The Swiss government had argued against the ban saying it was not up to the state to dictate what women wear.
The Central Council of Muslims in Switzerland called the vote a dark day for the community, “Today’s decision opens old wounds, further expands the principle of legal inequality, and sends a clear signal of exclusion to the Muslim minority,” it said.
The proposal in Sunday’s referendum did not mention Islam directly and was also aimed at stopping violent street protesters from wearing masks.
Under Switzerland’s system of direct democracy, citizens are given votes on such policy.
In 2009 citizens went against government advice and voted to ban the building of minarets – a proposal also put forward by the SVP which said minarets were a sign of Islamisation take form in the nation.
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