People hold up placards during a protest organized by “Stand up to Racism” outside the French Embassy in London against the Burkini ban on French beaches on Friday.
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The French government can not implement a nationwide anti-Muslim swimsuit ban, as such a law would be “unconstitutional and ineffective”, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said.
More than 30 French towns have banned burkinis, which cover the whole body except for the face, hands and feet.
The suspension of the ban on the swimsuit, which has triggered a fierce debate in France and sparked critical headlines around the world, was welcomed by the United Nations, and a French Muslim group said it was a “victory for common sense”.
According to the minister, the French authorities and Muslims should move together toward gender equality, inviolability of republican principles and tolerance.
But the ruling provoked defiance from several Riviera resorts, which pledged to continue imposing fines.
She said: “Feminists who would have reacted with horror to the idea of a man telling them not to wear a mini-skirt said that a woman wearing a burkini was a threat”.
While the socialist government minister has been opposing the burkini ban, other political figures in France have expressed their support towards the Muslim swimwear restrictions.
John Dalhuisen, Amnesty International’s Europe director, told Buzzfeed that burka bans “do nothing to increase public safety but do a lot to promote public humiliation”.
Friday’s decision was an initial ruling by the Council of State while it continues to prepare its more detailed judgment on the legal issues in the case.
The former French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, has promised this week he would impose a nationwide ban on burkinis if re-elected to the presidency.
The court ruled that the burkini ban “seriously, and clearly illegally, breached the fundamental freedoms to come and go, the freedom of beliefs and individual freedom”.
The government also previously banned Muslim headscarves and other “conspicuous” religious symbols in French schools in February 2004.
Two women wearing hijabs and hats were seen on a beach in Nice reportedly being told to leave by a policeman in a boat.
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The images show armed officers apparently ordering a woman to remove part of her clothing.
