A widely-discussed proposal to ban public wearing of face-covering garments including the burqa and niqab is set to be voted on in Denmark’s parliament.
Minister of Justice Søren Pape Poulsen, who was scheduled to present the proposal in parliament for a first round of voting on Thursday, said that a passing of the proposal into law would not result in police forcibly removing women’s burqas.
Women wearing the burqa in public would be fined or asked to go home, the minister told newspaper Politiken.
“If they live nearby, they will be asked to go home,” Poulsen said.
A further option would be for women to be accompanied to a police station, where they would be collected by a family member, he added.
“I do not want police officers pulling items of clothing off people – burqas or otherwise. That is not going to happen,” he said, adding that police would “not be given such instructions”. [The Local] Read more
