In February, the southern state of Bavaria, ruled by the Christian Social Union (CSU) - the Bavarian sister party to Merkel's conservatives - said it would ban the full-face veil in schools, universities, government workplaces and polling stations.
Germany is not the first European country to target Muslim women. Recently, Austrian government made a move to ban the full-body and facial veils, saying: "We believe in an open society that is also based on open communication. Full-body veils in public spaces stand against that and will therefore be prohibited."
Elsewhere in Europe, the far-right UK Independence Party (UKIP) said it would also pursue a ban on burqa in their party manifesto.
More about: #Germany #Bundestag #burqa
