Muslim groups across the UK have hit out against a campaign to ban burkas, saying the "dangerous" move would fuel Islamophobia at a time of increasing racial tensions in Britain.
Dr Taj Hargey, an imam and head of the Muslim Educational Centre of Oxford on Thursday launched a campaign to ban full face coverings, including the niqab, from being worn in public.
"We want to make a burka-free Britain," he told Al Arabiya News. "We should follow what France and Belgium have done."