The debate over a so-called partial 'burqa ban' in Germany is intensifying after several ministers recently proposed that people should not be allowed to cover their faces in places like courtrooms or schools.
Opponents see the proposed ban as a step backward in the government's attempts to integrate society.
Ira Spitzer reports from Berlin.
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VO#1 - Few items of clothing have been as controversial as THIS. Women covering their faces for religious reasons has been at the centre of an ongoing debate in Europe. Now the question has come to is being asked in Germany, as part of security proposals following several attacks this summer.
SOT, Safter Cinar, Turkish Union of Berlin-Brandenburg
"This is all a very senseless discussion. In France, there's been a burka debate for five years and that's where the recent worst terror attacks in Europe have taken place. This doesn't have anything to do with security."
VO#2 Thats Safter Cinar, of the Turkish Union of Berlin-Brandenburg. While there are no exact statistics, full-face coverings are estimated to be worn by around just a few hundred women in Germany, a tiny fraction of the more than four million Muslims living here. Still, proponents of the partial ban argue that a face veil is demeaning to women, hinders integration and should be banned in places where coexistence is necessary, such as schools. Cinar and others say a ban sends the wrong message though, especially to Muslim refugees who may feel like it is an attack on their religion.
SOT, Safter Cinar, Turkish Union of Berlin-Brandenburg
"It definitely doesn't encourage people here to feel included and as a part of this society. It does real damage in that way."
VO#4 If a partial ban were approved, Germany would join France, Belgium and the Netherlands who have passed similar laws in recent years. Some influential German politicians have strongly criticised the proposal though and it's unclear how much broader support there is. Gero Neugebauer is a political scientist.
SOT, Gero Neugebauer, Political Scientist
"You have to make compromises and these compromises mean that some rules will be diminished and some won't make it at all, In any case it won't be fast process."
VO#5 With two state elections coming next month, and federal ones next year, whether to ban the burqa, is now a key election issue. Ira Spitzer, Berlin.
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