“A beach outfit showing in an ostentatious manner a religious affiliation, given that France and religious places are now the target of terrorist acts, has the nature of creating risks of troubles of public order (mobs, conflicts, etc.) that are necessary to be prevented”, said the new law.
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In 2011 it became the first country in Europe to ban the full-face Islamic veil, known as the burka, as well as the partial face covering, the niqab.
The ruling upholding the ban on so-called burkinis fell as the newspaper Nice Matin revealed that another Riviera town, Villeneuve-Loubet, had issued a similar ban.
Instead, it is an explicit linking of an item of clothing to terrorism and worse, it implies that if someone wears one, they can expect to be attacked for it.
Furthermore, France’s secular tradition has often put law at odds with Islam.
Now the mayor of Cannes, David Lisnard, said that the wearing of full-body swimsuits violates “good customs and secularism”, Le Figaro reports.
The mayor of Cannes has banned the wearing of burkinis on the beaches of the French Riviera, officials have said.
People who are seen wearing burqinis on the beach will first be verbally told to change their swimwear or leave.
France also bans full burqas and niqabs in public spaces.
But prohibiting the burkini has caused an uproar with anti-racism organisations and human rights groups vowing to go to court to seek to overturn the “deeply worrying” ban.
When asked if he thought the ordinance would send a negative message to the numerous Muslim tourists in Cannes, Lisnard replied: “Not at all”.
There have been arrests and convictions in France, but attempts to enforce the ban have also sparked disturbances, including a riot in the Paris suburb of Trappes.
The water park hosting the event chose to cancel the planned event earlier this week after politicians on the both the right and the left criticised the initiative.
In July, the country extended its state of emergency by a further six months, following a truck attack in Nice in which 84 people were killed and hundreds injured. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the bloodshed in Nice, and less than two weeks later a Roman Catholic priest in northwestern France was slashed to death while celebrating Mass, by attackers who proclaimed their allegiance to the extremist group.
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French law already forbids face-covering veils anywhere in public, and headscarves in public schools.
