UK politician says burka is 'bank robber' clothing
The UK's ex-Foreign Minister Boris Johnson has been accused of racism. He made comments about women wearing the burka in a British newspaper. He said women who wear burkas "look like letter boxes". He also said: "If a female student turned up at school…looking like a bank robber," he would ask her to remove it so that he "could talk to her properly". Johnson was writing an article about a full-face veil ban in Denmark. He said full-face veils should not be banned in the UK, but said women who wore burkas "look absolutely ridiculous". The UK's Prime Minister Theresa May asked Mr Johnson to apologize. She said "We all have to be very careful about the language and terms we use, and some of the terms Boris used describing people's appearance...have offended." A senior British politician asked Mr Johnson to resign. Many other politicians said the comments were Islamophobic and a hate crime. They say he knew his comments would offend Muslims. Mr Johnson was London's mayor and the UK Foreign Minister. He has had thousands of experiences interacting with Muslim people. |