With a ban that spanned more than 30 French towns along the coast near Nice, the city that was targeted in a mass attack on Bastille Day, the global community and Muslims living in France protested the harsh law that marginalized those who chose to cover up.
Advertisement
Speaking to French daily La Croix, Cazeneuve reiterated the government’s opposition to legislating on the controversial matter which has sparked fierce debate both at home and overseas about women’s rights and France’s strictly-guarded secularism.
The controversial burkini ban was ruled illegal by France’s top court on Friday, with judges declaring the law a “serious and clearly illegal violation of fundamental freedoms”.
Former French president Nicholas Sarkozy said on Monday he would change the country’s constitution to ban full-body burkini swimsuits if he is re-elected to his former role in a vote next April.
“However, Muslims must continue to engage with us over gender equality, the inviolable nature of the principles of the French Republic, and tolerance in order to live together”.
Im relieved with the decision of the highest court, Samia Hathroubi, a French-Tunisian activist from the Foundation of Ethnic Understanding, told Travel + Leisure.
Former president Nicolas Sarkozy who is staging a political comeback and is seeking the ticket of the conservative Les Republicains in primaries set for November, has called for a law allowing mayors to ban the burkini. Among causes he is championing are bans on the Islamic veil in universities, in dealings with the public services and in workplaces, the tightening of family reunification rules, and the prohibition of pork-alternative menus for Muslim and Jewish children’s lunches in state schools.
But Cazeneuve said, “we do not need a new law”.
The row centres on France’s secular principles, but the debate appears to have been hijacked for political gain.
Advertisement
He also chastised the opposition for trying to stoke tensions at a time when France is hit by a series of deadly attacks claimed by Islamic State (Isis) militants. Images of armed police apparently enforcing the ban on a woman on a beach in Nice have added to the controversy.
