Switzerland has voted to impose a blanket ban on the building of minarets across the country, backing an initiative by far-right politicians.
A clear majority of 57.5 per cent of the population and 22 out of 26 cantons voted to ban the towers or turrets attached on mosques from where Muslims are called to prayer.
Far-right politicians celebrated the results, while the government sought to assure the Muslim minority that a ban on minarets was "not a rejection of the Muslim community, religion or culture".
