Burqa ban in Denmark
A ban on wearing full-face and body veils in public came into effect in Denmark on August 1, which means that the burqa and the nikab are no longer allowed. What some see as a violation of human rights others praise as an appropriate measure to protect Denmark's national identity.
Tolerance instead of bans
Jyllands-Posten gives two reasons why the ban is out of place in an open society:
“Firstly, each individual should have the unconditional right to wear what he or she sees fit. Secondly, every person has the right to make public their personal convictions, be they political, religious, cultural, or whatever. Tolerance means also tolerating public gestures you don't agree with, and countering them not with bans and police, but with good arguments.”
Danes dare to demand more assimilation
There doesn't seem to be any discussion about the priorities of integration policy in Denmark, Český rozhlas observes:
“Pretty much everyone voted for the law: liberals, conservatives, Christian Democrats and Social Democrats. ... Denmark is far more self-assured than other Western European countries when it comes to protecting what it considers to be its identity, and it is far more insistent than other states about the cultural assimilation of newcomers. For this reason too, what is going on in Jutland right now should be of interest to all Europe.”