PARIS Frances highest administrative court has overturned a towns ban on burkinis, the full-body swimwear used by some Muslim women, setting a precedent that challenges similar bans in at least 30 other municipalities, a lot of them on the French Riviera.
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The court said local authorities could only introduce measures restricting individual freedoms if wearing the Islamic swimsuit on beaches represented a “proven risk” to public order.
Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy has labelled the burkini a “provocation” that supports radicalised Islam.
“The contested ban seriously impinged on the principle of equality of citizens before the law, freedom of expression, freedom of conscience and freedom of movement and was manifestly illegal”, the Council of State said in its ruling.
The administrative court in Nice on Monday said the Villeneuve-Loubet ban was “necessary” to prevent “public disorder” after the Nice attack and the murder 12 days later of a Catholic priest by two jihadists in northern France.
Amnesty International welcomed the ruling.
Prime Minister Manuel Valls has defended the ban but some ministers have criticized it, splitting the government.
France already became the first European country to ban wearing burqas in public in 2011.
The so-called burkini bans never actually mention the word burkini, although they are clearly aimed at the garment, which covers the hair but leaves the face visible and stretches down to the ankles.
The Council of State’s ruling specifically concerns the ban in the town of Villeneuve-Loubet, however the binding decision will set a legal precedent for the other areas that have imposed bans, reports SkyNews. The decision will affect the 30 French towns that have enforced the ban, leading to much outrage over the course of the past week.
“It is a decision that is meant to set legal precedent”, Spinosi said.
Far-right National Front leader Marine Le Pen said the battle is not over.
But the mayor of the Corsican town of Sisco said he would not lift the ban he imposed after an August 13 clash on a beach. Proponents of the ban also relied on pseudo-feminist arguments claiming that the burkini is a form of oppression that women must be liberated from.
However, the decision will likely have ripple effects throughout the other towns around the country that have also banned the full-body swimsuit -which is akin to a wetsuit with a head-covering and is most commonly worn by Muslim women - on their beaches.
“Here the tension is very, very, very strong and I won’t withdraw it”, Mayor Ange-Pierre Vivoni said.
He stuck to his guns Friday evening, saying the State Council’s ruling “does not end the debate which has been opened”.
The group argued the bans contravened civil liberties.
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Such bans have divided France’s government and drawn anger overseas, especially after images circulated online showing police appearing to force a woman to take off her tunic.
