The right to choose
Over a thousand in Copenhagen stand up for women’s right to choose clothing
Women take to the streets in protest as Danish ban on full-face veil takes effect.
COPENHAGEN: Around 1,300 Danes marched through Copenhagen in protest at a new ban on the wearing of face veils in public, accusing the government of infringing on women’s right to dress as they choose.
Denmark’s parliament enacted the ban in May, joining France and some other European Union countries to uphold what some politicians say are secular and democratic values.
The protesters, many wearing the niqab veil or the allenveloping, bodylength burqa, marched from the central, leftwing district of Norrebro to Bellahoj police station on the outskirts of the capital. They formed a human chain around the station and then marched back to Norrebro before dispersing.
Demonstrators, often with children in tow, chanted “no racists in our streets” and “my life, my choice” during the threehour rally. No incidents were reported.
The marchers included nonniqabwearing Muslim women and nonMuslim Danes with faces covered.
“We need to send a signal to the government that we will not bow to discrimination and a law that specifically targets a religious minority,” Sabina, 21, a niqabgarbed student, said, asking that her full name not be used.
She is one of about 150200 Muslim women – 0.1% of those in the country – who wear either the niqab or burqa garments covering the face or the entire body.
Muslims account for around 5% of Denmark’s 5.7 million population.
Under the law, police will be able to instruct women to remove their veils or order them to leave public areas. Justice Minister Soren Pape Poulsen said officers would fine them and tell them to go home.
Fines will range from 1,000 Danish crowns (RM636) for a first offence to 10,000 crowns (RM6,360) for a fourth.
Despite its generic wording, the legislation is being widely interpreted as discriminating against Denmark’s Muslims and violating women’s right to freedom of expression and religion.
“If the intention of this law was to protect women’s rights, it fails abjectly,” said Fotis Filippou, deputy Europe director of human rights group Amnesty International.
“Instead, the law criminalises women for their choice of clothing – making a mockery of the freedoms Denmark purports to uphold.”