German Chancellor Angela Merkel has proposed a partial ban on the face veil, hardening her party’s once-progressive view on immigration in the face of rising anti-immigrant sentiment across Europe.
Speaking at the Christian Democratic Party conference, Merkel suggested that the burqa and the niqab, head coverings traditionally worn by Muslim women, are “inappropriate” and insisted that German law “takes precedence over codes of honor, tribal or family rules – that has to be spelled out clearly.”
Merkel has often been criticized for her handling of Europe’s refugee crisis, when she opened German borders to allow hundreds of thousands of people, mostly fleeing war in the Middle East and Africa, to enter the country. Many will see this tough rhetoric as an attempt to assuage any worries that she has moved to the left. Addressing the events that led to the stark rise in immigration, Merkel said: “A situation like the one of summer 2015 cannot, must not, and will not be repeated.”
From The Guardian:
