Swedish Police Allow Hijab in Uniform - Justice Minister Won't Act
Swedish police officers may wear the hijab, kippah or turban on all duties. A Moderate politician now calls it a gross breach of neutrality, but his own party's justice minister has refused to change the rules.
SWEDEN - Swedish police officers are allowed to wear the hijab, the kippah and the turban with their uniform on every kind of duty. A Moderate Party politician is now attacking the rules, but his own party's justice minister has already refused to touch them.
Henrik Sundström, a lawyer and Moderate politician, took aim at the policy in a post on X on 7 November. He pointed to the Swedish Police Authority's current uniform regulations, PMFS 2026:18.
"This is a gross departure from the principle that a representative of the state's monopoly on violence should appear uniform and neutral," Sundström wrote.
The regulations, in force since 1 September, state that a headscarf, kippah and turban may be worn on all duties. Headscarves and kippahs must be dark blue and worn under the regulation cap outdoors. Turbans may be dark blue or black, and none of them may carry police insignia.
When one X user called it "a really bad proposal", Sundström replied that it was no proposal at all. The rules have been in place since 2006, when the former National Police Board approved religious headwear.
Backed by the police union
The Swedish Police Union supported the change back then, citing freedom of expression and religion, while also asking for a risk and impact assessment, according to the union magazine Polistidningen's reporting from May 2006.
Today the Swedish Police Authority goes further. Its recruitment page says cultural and linguistic skills strengthen public trust in the police, and it tells applicants outright that religious headwear is allowed.
The Sweden Democrats have pushed for a neutral police uniform for more than a decade. Kent Ekeroth and Richard Jomshof first tabled a motion in the Swedish parliament in 2013, and the demand has returned several times since.
Justice minister shrugs
In 2023 the Sweden Democrats asked Justice Minister Gunnar Strömmer, a Moderate, whether religious symbols such as the hijab should be banned from the uniform. The answer was no.
Strömmer called the question one of "principled interest", but said what officers wear is ultimately a matter for the Swedish Police Authority as employer.
"In light of this, I do not intend to take any action regarding police uniforms," he said.
Sundström's party has led the government ever since without changing a line of the rules he now calls a gross departure from neutrality.
Samnytt News Desk · Stockholm Newsroom
The Samnytt Newsroom in Stockholm reports on Swedish courts, migration, energy policy, and Nordic affairs under Responsible Publisher Simon Kristoffersson, Senior Columnist Mats Dagerlind, and Executive Director Kent Ekeroth.
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