The leader of the anti-immigration Sweden Democrat party appears to have dropped his push for a burqa ban, days after Denmark’s government proposed a national ban on full-face veils.
In a gambit seen as part of his preparations for a post-election deal with Sweden’s centre-right, Jimmie Åkesson said he did not think a ban was right.
“I think that it is problematical,” Åkesson told Swedish TV presenter Sven Melander, saying he was against a “blanket ban on any item of clothing”.
“I’m more in favour of limiting parents’ ability to force children to wear religious symbols which degrade women,” he said.