The ruling party in Italy is proposing a ban on burqas that also would ban forced marriages.

The proposed Brothers of Italy party’s legislation would impose fines for wearing burqas — floor-length robes that also cover the face — in schools, universities, shops, and offices, according to the U.K.’s Telegraph.

“The spread of Islamic fundamentalism … undeniably constitutes the breeding ground for Islamist terrorism,” the draft legislation said, according to the U.K.’s Daily Mail.

A statement from the party said the bill fights “Islamic separatism, religious radicalization and religiously motivated hatred,” according to GB News.

“The law against Islamic separatism represents a necessary step to protect Italian identity, the safety of citizens, and the freedom of women,” it said in a statement.

“It’s not about limiting religious freedom, but about preventing it from being exploited to justify practices incompatible with the principles of our constitution and our society,” the party statement said.

“We want to intervene against Islamic separatism, a phenomenon manifested through the creation of enclaves where sharia law prevails over Italian law,” the party said, noting that “worrying signs are beginning to emerge in Italy.”

Galeazzo Bignami, the party’s parliamentary leader, said the bill is an attempt to block “all forms of extremism and any attempt to create parallel societies on Italian soil.”

Sara Kelany, a co-sponsor of the bill, said it helps build  “a model of society based on integration, legality, and the defense of Western values.”

“Religious freedom is sacred, but it must be exercised in the open, in full respect of our constitution and the principles of the Italian state,” lawmaker Andrea Delmastro, who supports the bill, said, according to Politico.

“It is a bill that will essentially deal with regulating the funding of mosques, and with preventing and banning the use of the full-face veil. It also emphasizes the legislation against forced marriages. In Italy, we apply our laws which are based on a specific set of values,” Kelany said.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations attacked the proposal in a statement on its website.

“Religious freedom includes a person of faith’s right to choose to wear a cross, a star of David, a hijab, a turban and, yes, a face veil. Governments that ban women from choosing to cover their face are engaging in an authoritarian, bigoted attack on religious freedom,” CAIR said.

“Italy’s proposed ban on the face veil — worn voluntarily by a small minority of Italian Muslim women as a [person’s] expression of faith — also makes no sense given that anyone would still be free to cover their faces for medical reasons, costume parties, holidays, and any other reason other than their religious beliefs,” CAIR said.

But Kelany said that wearing a burqa is about oppression, not religion, according to Breitbart.

“Erasing a woman’s face means humiliating her. Some talk about free choice, but I find it hard to believe a woman would want to humiliate herself,” she said.

“The left, blinded by ideological do-goodism and fearful of being accused of Islamophobia, on the one hand cries out about patriarchy, while on the other remains silent on these intolerable phenomena,” she said.

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