German Chancellor Angela Merkel calls for burqa ban

Speaking to her Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party in Essen, she said wearing of full-faced veils should be prohibited in schools, courts, and other state buildings, “wherever it is legally possible”. The chancellor’s decision to open Germany’s borders to refugees, mostly from war-torn regions, has hit her approval ratings and caused a rift in her own party.

It also comes as Merkel has plans to run for re-election for Chancellor amid her party’s dramatic drop in support after supporting mass immigration by Muslim immigrants.

The German government has been a leading critic of platforms like Facebook, with Merkel confronting the company’s founder Mark Zuckerberg at the United Nations in NY a year ago and pressing him to do more to crack down on racist posts.

Tackling the hot button issue head-on, Merkel vowed that “a situation like that of summer 2015 can and must not repeat itself”. “This was and remains our declared political goal”.

“Someone like me who grew up in East Germany knows that politics against freedom is against human nature”, she said, “that politics against freedom is an outrage”.

In her speech, Merkel called the bombardment of the Syrian city of Aleppo a “disgrace” and warned Britain there would be no “cherry picking” in its Brexit talks.

She also warned Russian Federation for Aleppo Bombardment and Britain on Brexit.

“The full-face veil must be banned, wherever it is legally possible”, Merkel told party delegates in Essen.

Polls show nevertheless that her CDU is the clear frontrunner in the general election, expected in September 2017.

In addition to the veil ban, Merkel also called for stemming the influx of immigrants, a more hardline note from her previous stance as an asylum provider.

“It shows that she has lost confidence but has not fully regained it”, said Spiegel Online.

In the past Merkel has been critical of Islamic veils as an obstacle to assimilation in Germany, but her comments seemed created to appease those who say her welcome of asylum seekers has been reckless and damaging to Germany. Combined with this has been the June vote in Britain to exit the European Union and the shock victory of the NY billionaire Donald Trump in last month’s United States presidential election.