Germany agrees to ban female civil servants and soldiers from wearing full-face burka
The move comes after Angela Merkel last year called for a ban on full-face Muslim veils 'wherever legally possible'
GERMAN MPs have approved a ban on the full-face burka for female public servants at work as part of a package of new security measures aimed to prevent ISIS attacks.
The move follows several terror attacks, including a truck rampage through a Berlin Christmas market which killed 12 people.
Bundestag lower house of parliament agreed to a draft law today that will stop female civil servants, judges and soldiers in Germany from wearing full-face veils at work.
The text of the law passed reads: "The state has a duty to present itself in an ideologically and religiously neutral manner."
New security measures also include the use of electronic ankle bracelets for people deemed a security threat - like known Islamic radicals considered potentially violent by security services.
The move comes after German Chancellor Angela Merkel last year called for a ban on full-face Muslim veils "wherever legally possible"..
It is believed she launched the bid in order to remain in power after she announced she will stand for re-election which is in five months.
Germany has taken in more than one million migrants and refugees - most from predominantly Muslim countries - after Merkel decided in September 2015 to let in migrants who were stuck in Hungary.
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The law, which must also go for approval by the upper house of parliament, also says people can also be required to remove facial coverings in order to match them with their identity papers.
Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said: "Integration also means that we should make clear and impart our values and where the boundaries of our tolerance towards other cultures lie.
"The draft law we have agreed on makes an important contribution to that."
The new partial law on full-face burkas falls short of a total ban in public places - demanded by right-wing parties, like that in effect in France since 2011.
Another law paves the way for national and state police forces to pool their data in a new integrated IT system.
Under another new measure, Germany will implement EU rules on the exchange of flight passenger data to counter terrorism and serious crime.
And physical attacks on police, emergency services and military personnel on duty will in future be punished more severely, with up to five years' jail.
It follows the Berlin Christmas terror attack in Berlin which was claimed ISIS.
Tunisian national Anis Amri, 24, was shot dead four days later by Italian police.
The terror attack sparked public anger after it emerged Amri had been monitored by security agencies and had been in contact with radical Islamists.
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