Muslims and Austrian citizens attend a protest against the women headscarves ban proposed by the government country's ruling coalition in 2017.

Austrian legislators have approved plans to ban girls in primary schools from wearing headscarves.

The measure bans wearing “ideologically or religiously characterised clothing” that covers the head.

It also specifies it refers to items “that cover the whole or large parts of the hair”.

Legislators from Chancellor Sebastian Kurz’s conservative People’s Party and the anti-migration Freedom Party supported the measure.

Ban will face challenges

The chancellor’s party admitted that the ban is likely to face challenges in the Constitutional Court.

Austria’s previous government implemented a ban on anything covering the face.

This prohibited full-face veils in courts, schools and other “public places”.

It also bans police officers, judges, magistrates and public prosecutors from wearing headscarves.

Austrian police are allowed to use force to make people show their face and can impose fines of €150 (£132).

Austria’s ban came after France and Belgium bans in 2011 and the Dutch parliament also debating a similar law.

What is the difference between a burka and a niqab?

A burka is the most concealing of all Islamic veils. It is a one-piece veil that covers the face and body, often leaving just a mesh screen to see through.

The niqab is face-veil that leaves the area around the eyes clear. It is worn with an accompanying headscarf and may be worn with a separate eye veil.

Face veils are worn by some Muslim women in accordance with certain Islamic traditions that insist on “modesty” in public.

There have been calls to ban them in the UK and Boris Johnson got into hot water when he said that Muslim women wearing burkas “look like letter boxes” and comparing them to “bank robbers”.

Despite pressure to apologise, Boris Johnson stood by his remarks.

Prime Minister Theresa May ruled out a burka ban in the UK when questioned during a PMQs session in 2017, saying the move would be “divisive”.

She said: “It is absolutely the case that this country welcomes refugees to the United Kingdom, and we do so regardless of their religion.

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