Senior allies of Angela Merkel are pressing the German government to ban the burka because of increased fears over security.
Ministers from some of Germany’s 16 states have demanded the move be included alongside new measures the government is set to announce today which are designed to increase public safety.
Germany, like Britain, has no burka ban, but other European states including France and Belgium do restrict women from obscuring their faces in public places.
Thomas de Maiziere, the German interior minister, was intending to outline the original raft of extra security measures today. These include deporting preachers who incite terror.
However, senior figures from Merkel’s own Christian Democrat Party are unhappy with the current proposals and want a tougher approach.
As well as banning the burka they want to end dual citizenship for refugees, increase police numbers, and step up CCTV surveillance.
According to local press reports a document known as the Berlin Declaration has already been signed by state interior ministers across Germany urging a total of 27 beefed up security measures, including the burka ban.
A series of attacks have taken place in Germany recently, some of which have been connected to Islamic terrorism.
Last month alone there was a fatal machete attack, an axe attack on a train, a suicide bombing and a shooting rampage in a shopping mall.
Merkel’s decision to admit vast numbers of refugees to Germany in recent months without knowing their identities has generated strong opposition, with polls this month suggesting that two thirds of voters oppose her approach.
Germany’s federal system may make a blanket ban on burkas difficult to implement. Some have suggested it raises fundamental constitutional questions as well.
This week UKIP leadership candidate Lisa Duffy called for the burka to be banned in Britain in order to safeguard the rights of Muslim women.
