The Police Directorate has decided that it will be permitted to wear hijab with the Norwegian police uniform.
Police Director Ingelin Killengreen says the move is part of a desire to secure broad recruitment. Killengren points to the fact that among new immigrants there is a large number of women who for religious reasons wear hijab.
“By refusing to allow these to wear their headdress, we would in reality exclude in particular these groups from serving in the police force,” the Police Director says.
“The police depend on trust to create security and prevent and fight crime. It is therefore important that all parts of our society should feel equal in their relations with the police,” she says.
The head of the Policemen’s Union. Arne Johannessen, is surprised and disappointed by the decision: “We have police force which is supposed to symbolize neutrality while in uniform,” Johanessen says.
See also the AFP report which quotes Per-Willy Amundsen of the laughably misnamed Progress Party (formerly bankrolled by the South African apartheid regime) ranting on about the Islamisation of Norway.