German Chancellor Angela Merkel is expressing support for a ban on full-face veils worn by Muslim women, a stance that is angering some American Muslim groups.
Merkel said Tuesday she had changed her position on a ban on burkas, the veils worn by some Muslim women that cover the entire face. Fox News reported she told supporters of her political party those veils were “not appropriate” and are allowing the development of “parallel societies.”
“In communication between people, which is of course essential to our living together, we have to show our faces,” Merkel said. “So the full veil should be forbidden wherever legally possible.”
It’s a change for the German leader who has done more than most European leaders to allow Muslim migrants and refugees into her country in recent years. More than a million Muslims have come into Germany in the last two years.
Merkel in the past has said she doesn’t want Muslim women to wear burkas, but didn’t believe a law was necessary to ban the garment.
France, Belgium, Bulgaria, Switzerland and Italy have some sort of ban on burkas already in place. The Netherlands’ Parliament voted last week to ban the garment in their country.
According to Fox News, Merkel’s change of heart was not welcomed by the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
“We believe everyone should be free to wear the clothing of their choice and that laws targeting the tiny minority of Muslim women who wear face coverings are an expression of increasing Islamophobia in Europe,” CAIR spokesman Ibrahim Hooper said. “Freedom is about making personal choices, not having a decision imposed on individuals by the state. Growing anti-Muslim bigotry should be repudiated, not pandered to.”
