Amsterdam police chief Bernard Welten will not order his officers to arrest women wearing a burqa when the government introduces a ban, he implied during a tv show.

Police officers should always be sensible, Welten said. ‘I do not always consider myself an instrument of the government who should immediately do what I am told,’ he is quoted as saying.
It is ‘a very complicated dilemma,’ he said, adding that the role of the police is to protect freedom, equality and justice.
Coalition deal

The new government included a commitment to banning face-covering garments in its coalition agreement.
Hero Brinkman, a former policeman and MP for the anti-Islam PVV told the Telegraaf Welten’s comments are unacceptable. The police should be subject to the government’s will, he said, ‘otherwise we live in a banana republic’.
Last year, the PVV was forced to re edit a political party broadcast which included footage of the police chief appearing to criticise the city’s then-mayor Job Cohen. Welten said he did not want to be used for political purposes.