Around 50 people held a protest outside the French embassy in London, recreating a beach and carrying placards saying “Burkini ban is racist”.
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Human rights groups arguing for French cities’ “burkini” bans to be struck down say that their countrymen have infringed on the rights of Muslims in a “reflex of fear”.
Tension grew on Wednesday after photographs were flashed on social media of French police officers forcing modestly clad Muslim women on beaches, who were wearing full-body swimsuits known as “burkinis”, to pay fines, leave or disrobe.
Human rights lawyers have focused mostly on the swimwear edicts as an infringement on citizens’ rights, and warned that if the court does not reject them, they could spread to bans on public transportation and other public spaces.
The administrative court in Nice ruled on Monday that the ban in Villeneuve-Loubet was “necessary, appropriate and proportionate” to prevent public disorder after the truck attack in Nice and the murder of a Catholic priest by two jihadists in northern France. She said that the swimsuit, which covers a woman’s whole body save her face, feet and hands, has helped improve integration and understanding of Muslims in Australia.
Mr Khan said women should not be told what to wear as protesters campaigning against the ban staged a beach party outside the French Embassy in London.
The ruling is due in the afternoon and will likely set precedent for at least 30 French towns. Sarkozy announced this week that he is running for the presidency again in next spring’s election and says if he wins, he will ban every visible religious sign in French universities.
“The Burkini” is an item of clothing that has been deemed to be unacceptable in French beaches as, according to France it goes against local traditions and values.
Responding to the global outrage over photos of French armed police forcing Muslim women to remove their clothes on a Mediterranean beach, one French official threatened Wednesday to sue whoever dares to share such photos on social media.
“If we do not put an end to this, there is a risk that in 10 years, young Muslim girls who do not want to wear the veil or burkini will be stigmatised and peer-pressured”, Sarkozy added. But he added “I don’t think anybody should be telling women what they can or what they can’t wear”.
For her part, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo demanded an end to the burkini “hysteria”, The Associated Press reported. “Yesterday when I saw the images of the woman on the beach I felt sick to my stomach”, said Esmat Jeraj, one of the organizers. “Full stop”, he told the London Evening Standard newspaper.
“I will be the president that re-establishes the authority of the state”, he said, appearing to have stolen ideas from the popular FN – a party with rising popularity that he is seeking to win back votes from. The bans, based on a strict application of secularism policies, have exposed division within the government.
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“I don’t think it’s right”.
