Angela Merkel, a German politician who has been criticized for her policies toward refugees, is under fire again. But for a different reason this time.
The Chancellor suggested that her party ban full-face veils “wherever legally possible,” according to The New York Times. She later accepted her party’s nomination for another four-year term. This may be a strategic effort to regain support from moderates and voters being courted by far-right forces who appeal to a growing anti-immigrant sentiment.
Merkel doubled-down on a “law and order” platform by promising that Sharia law (or Islamic law) will never replace governing German laws. In addition to that, she added the following statements on face coverings: “Here we say, ‘Show your face … So full veiling is not appropriate here. It should be prohibited wherever legally possible.”
She did not clarify what circumstances this should include. As the anti-immigrant sentiment across the world heightens, chances are this isn’t the last type of comment we’ll hear from Merkel or other world leaders like this one.
