AIBU to think face coverings in public should be banned?

15 years ago, people in my demographic wore those scarf things that men wear in the middle East. I think the only thing different now is that white kids who arent from the inner cities are wearing these things, too.

I went to Littlehampton recently and the number of kids who went around fully masked and ballyed up was ridiculous. They're not even doing anything!

Yep

I want the police to solve the murders of young men in my area. Abraham Badru, Meneliek Robinson, Darren Ogiste, Corey Wright and Wayne Henry. Nobody had a face covering in these crimes.

Yes I agree.
I see youths riding about in pedestrian areas wearing balaclavas. Lord knows why their parents allow this.
The problem is you can’t allow one group of people to wear a face covering whilst banning another, so yes a total ban.

People keep saying “France have done it with no issues”, which just isn’t true. It was hugely controversial at the time, and considered Islamophobic. Islamophobia is a huge problem in France to this day. When I lived there just a few years ago, government officials explicitly told me I didn’t need a residence permit because I “wasn’t brown or Muslim”. I heard police being racist to Muslims in the course of their jobs, and coworkers openly said shit that wouldn’t be tolerated here at all.

What people mean when they say “France did it and it was fine” is “France did it and the white people feel things are fine”.

To avoid spreading a cold or other infection when I have one, I wear a medical mask in indoor public spaces, eg shop or hospital. I usually push it down briefly to show my face when I first speak to anyone. Same if I’m muffled up in a scarf.

It’s simple to show this courtesy if you’re well disposed to the people around you.

Head coverings and wigs don’t hide the face.

I find it really hard when I see lady's wearing the entire covering and I'm with my daughters.
I also find it intimidating when men wear face covering and hoodies etc. .

But these gangs aren’t women wearing niqabs, or disabled people wearing medical masks, or runners wearing snoods.

Why try to use the behaviour of these gangs to justify making it harder for other groups of people to access public life, rather than arguing that antisocial behaviour needs appropriate policing and punishment?

By your reasoning shops would then also be able to ban immunocompromised people wearing masks. That would be disability discrimination.

I despair.

You can see it in person in many areas. 15 years back there weren't the daily sightings of groups of late teen/early 20s males in black balaclavas that you see now. It would have stood out as extremely unusual whereas now it is commonplace.

I agree apart from those with low immune systems who wear a mask in confined public spaces.
I am in this category due to cancer treatment.

Total nonsense. I don't remember ever seeing someone wandering about in a balaclava 🙄 This is thinly and badly veiled racism no matter how much the attempt to cover it up is made.

I don’t think face coverings should be banned but I do think shops should have the right to ban entry to people with their faces covered, be that balaclavas or niqabs.
When I see a woman in a niqab, I always assume that it’s a relationship with a degree of coercive control. I do find it hard to believe that women would actually want to dress this way. I don’t know any Muslims so that may be just my own biases.
What I really, really hate is seeing pre pubescent children in headscarves, sometimes children as young as 4. It bothers me no end when I see it. I’d probably ban that too.

Arguably wearing a cap and sunglasses hides your identity pretty well, so you want that banned too? I will often run with a thin snood over the bottom part of my face when it’s really cold, should I expect to be arrested for that?

At my workplace, hoodies cannot be worn up, for safeguarding / security reasons, but full face coverings and niqabs are worn (no policy, except in exams for example, the face under a niqab has to shown to a female staff member). It doesn’t really make sense and it makes it harder to enforce the no hoodies up rule, if fully-covered faces are allowed.

We are getting more students wearing niqabs every year, although still only a few. I find it alienating / intimidating / sad / rude / oppressive when someone chooses (or is coerced) to fully cover their face. I find the creep of this trend alarming, especially as we have the context of forced covering in Afghanistan.

Special treatment has been asked for by women wearing niqab, e.g. own exam room, invigilated by a female, so they could unveil in room as they overheat in their niqab.

If I listed a bunch of countries were a face covering is mandatory would you suddenly think it was a good idea to enforce that here? It's giving "If everyone else jumped off the bridge"

People have explained to you over and over why your post is racist and poorly thought out. Earlier, you said I could wear a scarf over my nose in a crowded school playground even though that goes against you entire OP. When I pushed you for more information on what would and would not be exempt of this rule, you said you didn't know. Now youre acting suprised when people call your idea stupid.

If you seriously can't understand why a bunch of us dont agree, why dont you read the comments were we explain to you why we dont agree instead of linking articles about other countries as if that has any baring on the UK

The alternative is doing the pick up looking like voldemort because my nose froze off 😂

You think men need niqab to control women.
Let me tell you,
I work in women refuges.
2 women are killed each week in the UK by a partner or ex partner.
The vast majority being white British women.
Why don't you figure out how to protect these women and worry about them?
Your concern is surely misplaced.
Funny how you jump from this being a security issue, to a concern for their safety issue
Pick one 🙄