Palestinian asylum seeker is fired for wearing a headscarf on her first day as an intern at a German mayor's office
The Palestinian woman was offered six weeks' work in Luckenwalde, Berlin
On arrival on the first day the woman, 48, refused to remove her hijab
The local mayor said the woman 'injured the neutrality' of the workplace
Elisabeth Herzog-von der Heide said all religious symbols were banned
By ALLAN HALL IN BERLIN FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 14:54 GMT, 25 August 2016 | UPDATED: 15:49 GMT, 25 August 2016

A Palestinian asylum seeker has been fired on her first day at work as in intern working in a German town hall because she refused to remove her headscarf.

The woman, 48, employed at the town hall in Luckenwalde near Berlin was informed that she had 'injured the neutrality' of the workplace with the traditional Muslim garb.

Media reports said she was sacked after just one day when she refused an order to remove the scarf.

Only recently Germany voted against banning the burka. But headscarves have previously not been an issue in a country with over three million Turkish immigrants.

Luckenwalde Mayoress Elisabeth Herzog-von der Heide said of her decision: 'The Islamic headscarf is a means of expression of religious belief in a place where we have neutrality. We don't allow crucifixes on the wall here either.'

The Palestinian woman had signed on for a six week course entitled 'Perspectives for Refugees' when she was given her marching orders on day one.

The mayoress, a member of the centre left SPD party, said it was a mistake to hire her in the first place if she was not willing to remove the scarf.

Local CDU conservative MP Sven Petke said: 'There is no basis in law for this decision.' He pointed out that Germany's Supreme Court had not made a ruling banning such clothing.

But a member of the hard-right anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany party (AfD), Thomas Jung, said: 'You can't have special privileges for Muslims if you can't have a crucifix on the wall.

'The mayor deserves respect and not scolding for her difficult decision.'

'We have to remind people they are French first and Muslim second': First mayor to ban burkini will extend order as Nicholas Sarkozy says wearing it is 'provocative and militant' act

Mr Leroy, who said he also imposed the burkini ban for hygiene purposes, will contact his counterparts in 14 other French Riviera townships, which have the ban in place, to suggest a similar extension.

'We have had to remind people that they are French first and of Muslim confession second,' he told the MailOnline.
'An incident happened on one of the Mandelieu beaches just last week after our cameras showed a woman dressed inappropriately going into the sea.

'There was a risk to public order because two other women were trying to prevent her from doing so.
'An officer sent to the spot took the woman to a police post nearby to show them the ruling.

'They were okay once they had read it, but the husband started complaining it was an anti-Muslim measure.
'That's when he was informed he was French first and Muslim second. He was not at all pleased'.

Holandija. Wildersova stranka želi zatvoriti džamije i zabraniti Kur'an

Politička stranka holandskog Geerta Wildersa, koja vodi u anketama uoči parlamentarnih izbora sljedeće godine, obećala je u svom manifestu da će "zatvoriti džamije i zabraniti Kur'an".

"Sve džamije i islamističke škole bit će zatvorena, a Kur'an zabranjen" piše u dokumentu u kojem se predstavlja izborni program Slobodarske stranke (PVV), uoči glasanja u martu 2017. godine.

Knifeman shouting 'kill all Muslims' stabs a man on a train before chasing passengers through a station in south London, witnesses say

By RICHARD SPILLETT, CRIME CORRESPONDENT FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 14:11 GMT, 12 December 2016 | UPDATED: 19:54 GMT, 12 December 2016

A knifeman who ran amok at a London train station, stabbing at least one victim, shouted 'kill all Muslims' during his rampage, witnesses have said.

A man was injured during the attack at Forest Hill station in south-east London this afternoon and is currently being treated in hospital.
Witnesses said the man was waving his arm around in the air and shouting 'Death to Muslims' as he 'marched up and down' outside the station after the attack.

Bavarska želi zabraniti burku i nikab u državnoj službi i na javnim mjestima

Njemačka savezna pokrajina Bavarska objavila je postojanje plana o zabrani burke i nikaba, odnosno vela koji u potpunosti ili djelomično prekriva lice.
Zabrana bi se odnosila na radnice u državnoj službi, školama i univerzitetima te vozačice. Također, zabrana obuhvata i javna mjesta, odnosno situacije u kojima policija mora identifikovati osobu za vrijeme procesa glasanja.

Kritičari zabrane tvrde da će ona imati mali utjecaj na stanovništvo jer u Bavarskoj živi mali procent muslimana koji praktikuju takvu vrstu oblačenja. Također, vlasti su optužene da zabranu žele uvesti u vrijeme pred nadolazeće izbore na saveznom nivou, piše BBC.

Prijedlog zakona o zabrani predstavljen je u utorak, a šanse za usvajanje prije ljetne pauze su velike s obzirom na to da Kršćanska socijalna unija ima većinu u pokrajinskom parlamentu.

"Komunikacija se ne dešava samo pomoću jezika, nego i pomoću pogleda, facijalnih ekspresija i gesti. Komunikacija je temelj naših interakcija i naše slobode i demokratije", rekao je Ministar unutrašnjih poslova Joachim Herrmann.

Employers can ban wearing of visible religious symbols – top EU court

Published time: 14 Mar, 2017 09:01
Edited time: 14 Mar, 2017 09:26

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled that employers can ban staff from wearing visible religious symbols at work in the first case of its kind before the EU’s top court.

The ECJ has ruled on the cases of two female employees in Belgium and in France, fired after they refused to remove their headscarves at work.

In the first case, a Belgian woman working as a receptionist for G4S Secure Solutions, which has a general ban on the wearing of visible religious or political symbols, was dismissed for refusing to remove her religious attire. In the second, a French IT consultant was also let go when she refused to take off the headscarf after a client complained.

“An internal rule of an undertaking which prohibits the visible wearing of any political, philosophical or religious sign does not constitute direct discrimination,” the court said in a statement.

The ruling comes on the eve of the Dutch election, in which Muslim immigration has been a key issue.

Islamic headscarves are a contentious issue in several European countries, with numerous cases of alleged discrimination against Muslim women emerging in recent months.

In December, a 14-year-old Syrian teenager was reportedly kicked off a tram in Berlin for wearing a headscarf, after the driver shouted through a loudspeaker that he refused to transport her.

Earlier this month, Austrian government officials sharply criticized a recommendation by the Islamic Religious Community in Austria (IGGO) which states that Muslim women must start wearing a headscarf from the onset of puberty, describing it as an attack on integration and women’s freedom.

Last month, a Muslim teacher who wasn't hired by a Berlin school because she was wearing a headscarf was awarded €8,680 (US$9,250) in compensation for discrimination.

Meanwhile, a court in the Czech Republic threw out a similar case in January, in which a Somalian refugee claimed she had been barred from wearing her headscarf in a nursing school. The case was said to be the first of its kind in the EU.

The EU Parliament’s biggest group, the European People’s Party, has expressed support for a Europe-wide ban of the Muslim veil citing both cultural and security concerns.
“The EPP calls for… A ban on full-face veils (i.e. the burqa or niqab) in public places, both for reasons of security and because seeing one another’s faces is an integral part of human interaction in Europe,” the EPP’s resolution stated, as cited by The Independent.