March 15 2011
Parliamentarian Jeanine Hennis, member of the right wing liberal VVD, currently the country’s largest party in government, wants to ban public servants working in town halls from wearing hijab. During an interview with De Pers Hennis motioned for “an open discussion on the separation between church and state” on the matter, adding that the ban should cover all religious symbols. At the same time, she dismissed the misgivings of Christian parties who “regard it as an infringement on freedom of religion” because, she says, the freedom of religion is enshrined in and protected by law.
