The court will make a final decision on the legality of the bans later.
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The Council of State, the top court in the French administrative justice system, ruled that the ban on bathing at the beach in the outfit, enacted by the town of Villeneuve-Loubet on August 5, violated civil liberties, including freedom of movement and religious freedom. And says she wouldn’t hesitate to wear a Burkini where it’s banned in France.
The burkinis were not mentioned by name in the bans, with the order simply saying beachwear must be respectful of good public manners and the principle of secularism.
“I refuse to let the burkini impose itself at French beaches and swimming pools. there must be a law to ban it throughout the Republic’s territory”, he said to thunderous applause during a speech in Provence, a stronghold of the Front National.
Luca, also a lawmaker, said that now only a law can stop troubles. “If not, legal actions could be taken” against those towns.
Human Rights League (LDH) and Collective Against Islamophobia in France (CCIF) took the case to the State Council.
“The Council of State ruling does not close the debate on the burkini”, Valls said on Facebook. In-fact, she says she has received a number of support mails and messages from non-Muslims, all of whom are completely against the ban. “It was not like this before, France has changed and it is not easy for us”, he said after Friday prayers at Paris’ main mosque.
However, at least three mayors have refused to accept the verdict and vowed to continue the ban on their beaches.
But one mayor in Corsica said he would not suspend his own ban, showing that the ruling will not put a quick end to the heated controversy that has already filtered into early campaigning for the 2017 presidential election. Many such incidents have been occurring regularly after the ban on the burkini.
Burkinis are created to cover women’s heads, arms and legs while bathing, in keeping with Islamic standards of modesty.
The conservative mayor of Villeneuve-Loubet said the court’s ruling will only serve to inflame the debate surrounding the burkini.
The laws, which was brought in by the commune of Villeneuve-Loubet, was specifically examined by the State Court. It is likely to set a legal precedent for 29 other towns that have banned the garment.
The tension on this matter arose when the picture of four French policemen demanded a woman to remove layers of her burkini at a beach in Nice on the shore at the town’s Promenade des Anglais, the scene of last month’s lorry attack which caused eighty-five people to be killed and 307 injured on 14 July when a cargo truck ploughed into crowds celebrating Bastille Day.
Prime Minister Manuel Valls has defended the ban but some ministers have criticized it, splitting the government.
At a hearing Thursday, lawyers for the rights groups argued that the bans are feeding fear and infringe on basic freedoms. The debate was fuelled by footage of police trying to enforce the ban on a woman on the beach in Nice.
Meanwhile, terror analysts have warned that the dispute will fuel jihadist propaganda as groups like Isis attempt to portray France and other Western countries as at war with Muslims.
People march in Port-Leucate to protest the municipal ban forbidding burkinis.
French politicians remain divided.
And UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said “we welcome the decision by the court”, noting that the world body stresses “the need for people’s dignity to be respected”.
“I think it’s ridiculous”.
Amnesty International welcomed the court’s decision.
John Dalhuisen, the group’s Europe director, said: “French authorities must now drop the pretence that these measures do anything to protect the rights of women”.
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In recent weeks, around 30 French municipalities made a decision to ban access to public beaches “by anyone not wearing proper attire, which is respectful of good morality and the principle of secularism and not respectful of the rules of hygiene and bathing security”.
