Several towns in France implemented the ban citing concerns over religious clothing in the wake of recent terrorist killings in the country.
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The state council ruled that the mayor of the southern resort town did not have a right to issue a ban, noting that authorities could only restrict individual liberties if there was a “proven risk”.
The bans grew increasingly controversial as images emerged of some Muslim women being ordered to remove body-concealing garments on beaches.
The ban sparked global shock and anger, which peaked after images surfaced of a Muslim woman surrounded by four armed policemen, being forced to remove her garment. The hashtag #BurkiniBan took Twitter by storm, with people around the world weighing in on the debate.
After worldwide outcry, France’s Council of State has overturned the ban on “burkinis” in the southern coastal town of Villeneuve-Loubet. The State Council, France’s version of our Supreme Court, will decide whether one of the controversial bans now recognized in more than a dozen towns is constitutional.
It is a temporary decision handed down while the court takes more time to consider the full legality of the ban.
But on Friday, the highest administrative court in France said the burkini ban in Villeneuve-Loubet, one of the towns that has banned it, “seriously and clearly illegally breached fundamental freedoms”.
The ruling is expected to set a precedent and overturn the similar burkini bans in other coastal communities.
Both Muslim and non-Muslim women donned burkinis, bikinis and swimsuits and sat outside the Knightsbridge embassy.
“By overturning a discriminatory ban that is fuelled by and is fuelling prejudice and intolerance, today’s decision has drawn an important line in the sand…”
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French Prime Minister Manuel Valls and opposition leader Nicholas Sarkozy have both voiced their support for the bans, along with some sections of the press. The bans, based on a strict application of secularism policies, have exposed division within the government. Meanwhile, four women who bathed at the beach in Cannes wearing a burkini reportedly received a 38-euro fine each.
