In the wake of the terrorist attacks in London, and just 12 days after a terrorist attack in Manchester, British officials are considering new legislation prohibiting the wearing of burkas in public, Fox News reported.
“It is just whispers at the moment, but if that goes live, one would guess that it will be enforced across the U.K.,” an intel source said.
MP and government minister Jack Straw first publicly proposed a burka ban in Britain in 2006, but the negative reaction to it caused him to later apologize. Other nearby European countries, however, have passed different forms of laws that prohibit wearing full face veils.
According to Fox News, British lawmakers are zeroing in on recruiting and deploying additional counterterrorism officers and passing laws to “round up” suspected terrorists. Should there be convictions, stripping citizenship could be another consequence to preempt further attacks.
“There are a lot of Muslim strongholds in the U.K. from London and Luton to Birmingham, Burnley and Blackburn,” added the intel source. “Right now, through weak policies, we have allowed the fundamentalists to spoil it for the majority.”
Seven people were killed and 48 were severely wounded in the attacks on London Bridge and a nearby bar last Saturday, when three perpetrators donning masks rammed a van into a group of pedestrians on the bridge.
The attackers, wearing fake suicide vests, then got out of the van, entered the bar and began stabbing patrons. All three were shot and killed by authorities. Twelve individuals were arrested in connection to the London attacks Sunday by British law enforcement