While the ruling focuses on one town, it’s expected to set legal precedent for all towns that have banned them. “That’s not a sight that any of us should stand for”, said church curate Jenny Dawkins, 40, one of the protesters.
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However, France’s highest court – the State Council – is yet to rule in a case on Friday brought by the Human Rights League and an anti-Islamophobia group to reverse a decision by the southern town of Villeneuve-Loubet, near Nice, to ban the full-body swimsuits.
A French ban on the burkini – a swimsuit that covers the whole body except for the face, hands and feet – is boosting sales of the beachwear.
Sonu Kilam is the co-founder and designer at East Essence, an online store that sells modern and traditional Islamic clothes. She even designed a burkini for celebrity chef Nigella Lawson, who she says wanted the outfit to protect her skin from the sun. That excuse doesn’t work for the burkini, which confirms it was just that: “an excuse”.
Women in Muslim countries wear a range of swimwear, from bikinis to full-length garments, reflecting their personal tastes and understanding of their faith. “But I am into women’s rights”.
He said the bans, by contrast, had stirred “disruption to public order”, driven by the sight of police issuing fines to Muslim women on some Riviera beaches.
The government also previously banned Muslim headscarves and other “conspicuous” religious symbols in French schools in February 2004. “Not only are they in themselves discriminatory, but as we have seen, the enforcement of these bans leads to abuses and the degrading treatment of Muslim women and girls”, he said. Still, she says, clothing has nothing to do with radicalization.
He said: “We must provide a response to these communalist provocations”.
The French town’s ban on the burkini was overturned by the country’s Council of State on Friday, which said it infringed on basic freedoms.
Activists protest outside the French embassy, during the “wear what you want beach party” in London, Thursday, Aug. 25, 2016. “When someone is radicalized, they don’t go to the beach”.
In an interview with The New York Times this week, the women credited with inventing the burkini said those who banned the swimwear had “misunderstood” its objective. The issue poses a dilemma for the French left, a staunch defender of women’s rights worldwide. “A lot of them have French parents”, he said.
Certain regional authorities in France have banned women from wearing burkinis on public beaches, citing concerns about religious clothing in wake of terrorist attacks which have recently rocked the country.
In the days since the controversial ban came into force, 24 women have been fined.
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Sydney designer Aheda Zanetti created the swimsuit 12 years ago.
