Niqab Out of the Classroom? Denmark’S Face-Veil Ban Could Reach Schools from 1 January

Since 2018 anyone who covers their face in a public place in Denmark can be fined. Classrooms were never covered. Bill L 41, tabled on 7 October, would change that by adding the words “or an educational institution” to section 134 c of the Criminal Code.

The idea is not new. Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen announced on Constitution Day 2025 that she wanted the niqab out of classrooms and prayer rooms out of universities, calling them tools of social control over girls. Her government put the ban into bill L 103 in February 2026, but that bill died when the election was called.

“Jeg er statsminister i Danmark. Jeg er også kvinde. Og jeg kan ikke fordrage kvindeundertrykkelse.”

“I am Denmark’s prime minister. I am also a woman. And I cannot stand the oppression of women.”

— Mette Frederiksen, Prime Minister, to DR

Who is pushing it now

This time the bill comes from the Denmark Democrats — Inger Støjberg, Susie Jessen and three colleagues — who simply re-tabled the classroom part word for word. They say they fear the new government will not do it, because the Red-Green Alliance, which props up the government of the Social Democrats, SF, the Moderates and the Social Liberals, said during the first reading of L 103 that it does not support the extension.

Breaking the ban would still mean a fine, exactly as in the street. The bill has gone to the Legal Affairs Committee. The vote will show whether Frederiksen’s own party backs a ban it once proposed itself.