"I think the county council should be neutral as a public authority, just as I think the police should be neutral as well," Sweden Democrats member Anton Berglund told Swedish national broadcaster SVT.
Earlier, the European Court of Justice ruled that employers have the right to prohibit employees from wearing religious garments, such as the Muslim veil at work. With reference to this, the Swedish Democrats in the county of Sörmland seek to forbid county officials from wearing religious, political or ideological symbols during working hours.
"Healthcare should be neutral as well: if you wear political or religious symbols, you won't be seen as neutral any longer," Anton Berglund said.
"Personally, I do not think you should have any kind of political or religious symbol visible," Berglund said.
According to Sörmland County Councilwoman Monica Johansson of the Social Democratic Party, it is too early to take a stance on this matter before it has been investigated by officials.
"Generally speaking, though, it's best to refrain from wearing any religious symbols on your work clothes other than a badge with your name and position," Monica Johansson told SVT.
Ironically, SVT's own enterprise Halal TV, which has been running for almost nine years, recently sparked a controversy for featuring a veiled anchor reading the weather forecast.
Now, almost nine years later, a screenshot from Halal TV was featured in a much-debated tweet by British Alt-Right Youtube personality Paul Joseph Watson.
Many users responded to the fact that Swedish TV had no qualms about showing veiled women, while women in a Muslim Arab country like Iraq no longer wear Muslim apparel in front of the camera.
The weather forecast in Sweden vs the weather forecast in Iraq. pic.twitter.com/t870JhVRSU
— Paul Joseph Watson (@PrisonPlanet) 11 июля 2017 г.
In 2015, the Bishop of Stockholm Eva Brunne, who was previously hailed as the world's first lesbian bishop, sparked a major controversy with her proposal to remove all signs of the cross and arrange a Muslim prayer room in a church in her diocese in order to make people of other faiths more welcome.
