The Council of State’s ruling suspends a ban in the town of Villeneuve-Loubet, near Nice, and could affect cities around the country that have prohibited the full-length swimsuit. “If not legal actions could be taken” against those towns.
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A burkini is a swimsuit created to cover the whole body.
A Corsican mayor, Ange-Pierre Vivoni, has already announced that the local burkini ban would continue in his northern village of Sisco.
Asked about that risk, Sarkozy said: “Well, then we change the constitution”.
“We are not at war with Islam. the French republic is welcoming (to Muslims), we are protecting them against discrimination”, he told BFMTV.
In response, women spoke out to reporters and across Twitter - pointing out that, despite French politicians’ attempt to cloak the ban in feminism as a way of liberating women, it was in truth another way for people to tell women what they were allowed to wear.
Many officials – including prime minister Manuel Valls – have argued that burkinis oppress women.
France’s highest administrative court ruled Friday that the coastal town of Villeneuve-Loubet does not have the right to ban the burkini swimsuit, a landmark decision in a story that has drawn worldwide attention. “Current laws clearly lay out France’s secularism”. “Today all the ordinances enacted should conform to the decision” of the court, he said.
In 2010 France became the first European country to ban the wearing of the Islamic face veil in public. “Removing a woman from that because they think it’s not up to French values is the silliest thing I’ve heard in my life”.
The debate has split both the left and the right, with former president Nicolas Sarkozy calling for a nationwide ban on the burkini, while former premier Alain Juppe has expressed opposition to “an exceptional law”. “This is not pledging any allegiance with any kind of extremist people who are at war with you whatsoever”, she says.
Illustrator Nawak said the ban amounted to “hypocrisy on the beach”.
National Front leader Marine Le Pen says the overturning of a ban on burkinis in a French Mediterranean town is “not surprising” but the battle is not over.
The bans – made in the form of short-term mayoral decrees – began to be issued in a series of beach spots following the Bastille Day attack in Nice and the murder of a priest in Normandy. Officials on the other hand say the ban was enacted in efforts to assuage tension and growing terror-related concerns after a series of attacks shook up the country since previous year.
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The bans have divided France’s government and society and drawn anger overseas, especially after images circulated online showing French police appearing to force one Muslim woman to take off her tunic.
