Around 30 towns and villages imposed a prohibition on the burkini, which they considered a symbol of radical Islam and a potential threat to security.
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Colville said the United Nations human rights office welcomed the ruling affecting the seaside town of Villeneuve-Loubet, urging authorities in other French seaside towns and resorts that had adopted similar bans “to repeal them immediately”.
In mid-August, French premier Manuel Valls was reported as calling the burkini “the expression of a political project, a counter-society, based notably on the enslavement of women”. Burkinis were banned as they are something that promotes a religious symbol, however, crosses and yamakas were still allowed to be worn in public.
The controversial ban of the burkini – a full-body bathing suit replete with head covering designed for more conservative Muslim women – began to spread amongst cities in France in the wake of the Nice attack in July, which left more than 80 dead.
“Clearly, individuals wearing burkinis, or any other form of clothing for that matter, can not be blamed for the violent or hostile reactions of others”, he said. Cazeneuve stressed however that all religions had to respect France’s laws on the strict separation of religion and state. Ben Mohamed also tweeted footage of a Nice police boat approaching a veiled woman wading in the shallows and apparently ordering her out of the water. On Saturday afternoon, two women wearing veils were forced to leave the seashore, according to Federation of Muslims in the South spokesperson Feiza Ben Mohamed.
The Council of State ruled: ‘The emotion and concerns arising from the terrorist attacks, notably the one perpetrated in Nice on July 14, can not suffice to justify in law the contested prohibition measure’.
Speaking to Catholic newspaper “La Croix”, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said the ban was “unconstitutional, ineffective and would evoke antagonisms and irreparable tensions”.
Lawyer Patrice Spinosi, representing the Human Rights League, said women who had already received fines could appeal against them based on the decision. The town saw no reason to lift the decree as the ruling wasn’t aimed specifically at it, a press spokesman told CNN.
‘It is a decision that is meant to set legal precedent, ‘ Mr Spinosi said.
Sarkozy, running as a presidential primary candidate for France’s Republican party – Les Republicains, is now lagging behind Alain Juppe, a former French prime minister with a more moderate and centrist appeal.
However the mayor of Villeneuve-Loubet said that the judgement “will serve only to heighten tensions which will carry risks of trouble which we wanted to avoid” and many mayors are defying the court.
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Mr Luca denounced “rampant Islamisation” in the country and said: ‘They’ve gained a small additional step’.
