The mayor of the French city of Cannes has banned the wearing of burkinis – full-body swimsuits worn by some Muslim women – on its beaches.
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City ordinances in Cannes effectively forbade the burkini as well as swimwear that “ostentatiously displays religious affiliation, when France and places of worship are now the target of terrorist attacks”.
Although the organization acknowledges the recent terrorist attacks in France were devastating, they pointed out that numerous victims were, in fact, Muslim.
Mecca Laa Laa wears a “burkini” on her first surf lifesaving patrol at North Cronulla Beach. Authorities have also banned the face-covering niqab, and girls from wearing veils at school.
The order also banned wearing cloth while swimming.
A French court in Nice has upheld the ban on burkinis imposed by the mayor of Cannes.
Mayor Luca referred to the attacks in disputing charges that the burkini ban was discriminatory, saying it was intended “to avoid any disturbance to public order in the region which was hit by attacks”. He note that burqinis “signified religious affiliation in an ostentatious way”, which might spark unrest as France continues to be the target of Islamist terrorist attacks.
French organizations fighting against racism and Islamophobia have slammed the ordinance for being likely to inflame tensions between France’s Muslim community, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reports.
It comes almost a month after a terror attack in nearby Nice, where a man drove a heavy truck through a Bastille Day crowd on the city’s main beach promenade, killing 84.
Last month a man linked to Islamic State killed 85 people using a lorry in Nice, which is 20 miles along the French Riviera from Cannes.
The event in the suburb of Pennes-Mirabeau was the brainchild of Smile 13, a women’s association catering for Arabs in Marseille, whose population of almost two million includes around 220,000 Muslims, mainly of Algerian origin.
He pointed to the fact that the Muslim veil, Jewish skull cap and Christian cross were all permitted.
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Most recently, a water park near the French city of Marseilles cancelled a pool day that required attendees to adhere to Islamic standards of dress, claiming that such an event could be “provocative” in the wake of the Bastille Day attack.
