In Austria, a new wave of protests is building against a law that bans girls under 14 from wearing headscarves in school. The left wing youth organisation LINKS has announced a school strike for Friday, 9 October, urging students to stay away from class in solidarity with those affected by the rule, as reported by oe24.
Speaking at a demonstration outside the Education Ministry, LINKS made its position clear. “We stand with the girls impacted by this ban and call on everyone to join us in protest,” the group said. Organisers argue that the law singles out Muslim girls and turns schools into spaces of control rather than learning.
LINKS points to a 2020 ruling by Austria’s Constitutional Court, which struck down a similar headscarf restriction. At the time, the court said a selective ban violated the constitutional principles of equality and freedom of religion. Diana Leah Möslinger, a spokesperson for LINKS, criticised the new measure in sharp terms. “A state imposed dress code can never be emancipatory or feminist,” she said. “With this ban, our schools become a little more like places of state control and repression.”
The organisation warns that the law forces teachers to act as enforcers of a rule that excludes the very students it claims to protect. From an education-policy standpoint, LINKS argues, a law made without the input of those most affected is fundamentally flawed.
Instead of prohibitions, the group is calling for concrete improvements in schools: better working conditions for teachers, gender-sensitive teaching methods, and expanded access to school social work and psychological support. For LINKS, these measures, not dress-code bans are what would truly support young people in Austria’s classrooms.
