The bans drew increased attention after images emerged of Muslim women being ordered to remove body-concealing garments – not burkinis – on beaches.
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Paris: France’s highest administrative court yesterday suspended a ban on the Islamic burkini brought by a French Riviera town after it was challenged by rights groups.
It ruled that the mayor of Villeuneuve-Loubet overstepped his powers by enacting measures that are not justified by “proven risks of disruptions to public order nor, moreover, on reasons of hygiene or decency”.
FRENCH mayors have promised to ignore a court decision declaring the country’s beach burkini bans illegal. Who knows, maybe the recent court’s decision created a precedent that might be used in the future to withdraw similar bans in other French cities.
“Denouncing the burkini is not calling into question individual freedom”.
The bans have the backing of prominent French politicians including Prime Minister Manuel Valls, but have been condemned by human rights advocates on the grounds that they restrict personal freedom, unfairly target Muslims, and that telling women what they can and cannot wear is just a supremely shitty thing to do.
CFCM Secretary General Abdallah Zekri said: “This victory for common sense will help to take the tension out of a situation which has become very tense for our Muslim compatriots, especially women”.
However, at least one mayor has said they will ignore the judgement and keep the ban in place. “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”, Dalhuisen said.
The burkini bans by some French coastal towns drew worldwide condemnation after images circulated online of police appearing to require a Muslim woman to disrobe.
But the mayor of Villeneuve-Loubet, Lionnel Luca, of Sarkozy’s Les Republicains party, said it would heighten tensions.
The French ban had set off a debate in Europe; so far the French towns are alone in seeking to ban the Sharia-compliant swimwear.
Former President Nicolas Sarkozy and other some other conservative candidates want a national law banning burkinis.
It has also made French cultural identity a hot-button issue along with security in political debates as the country switches into campaign mode ahead of a presidential election next April.
Socialist President Francois Hollande struck a more measured tone, saying that life in society “presumes that each person conforms to the rules, and that there is neither provocation nor stigmatization”.
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Amnesty International welcomed the court’s decision.
