German Leader Angela Merkel Calls For Burqa Ban

German chancellor Angela Merkel has called for a ban on full-face burqas as she seeks re-election to a fourth term in office.

At a meeting between delegates of her party, the Christian Democratic Union, Merkel said “the full facial veil is inappropriate and should be banned wherever it is legally possible,” reported the Guardian.

“Our law takes precedence over codes of honour, tribal or family rules, and over sharia law – that has to be spelled out clearly,” Merkel added. “This also means that it is important to show face when people communicate.”

According to CNN, Merkel’s comments were met with sustained applause.

Time reporter Simon Shuster tweeted that Merkel’s call for a burqa ban was an attempt to “[suck up] some of the right-wing’s oxygen.”

According to the BBC, Germany’s Alternative for Germany Party (AfD) has been capitalizing off of discontent among Germans for Merkel’s policy of allowing more than 1 million refugees from war-torn nations such as Libya and Syria in 2015.

In a major state election that year, the AfD actually beat Merkel’s CDU, but didn’t garner enough votes to overcome the center-left Social Democrats.

But the calls fo ban the full-face burqa might be done in vain because not many women in Germany wear the religious garment, according to the Washington Post.

Egyptian German political scientist Hamed Abdel-Samad, described by the Washington Post as an atheist who is critical of Islam, estimated that only 200 to 300 people wore a burqa in Germany.

In addition, many people who do not know the different types of headwear often confused a “burqa” for the far more common hijab, which covers one’s hair, but not her face.

Sources: Guardian, BBC, Washington Post, Simon Shuster/Twitter/ Photo Credit: Olaf Kosinsky/Wikipedia