After the court set the bans aside, however, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said a law against the garments would be ruled unconstitutional.
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Speaking to French daily La Croix on Sunday, 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.
He spoke after a day-long conference with Muslim leaders, professionals and some lawmakers to try to mount a project meant to bind Muslims to the nation, a task given new urgency after deep divisions surfaced over burkini bans in 30 French beach towns and after extremist attacks that also stigmatized Muslims.
More than 20 French Mayors are refusing to lift the restrictions, despite a court ruling deeming them illegal.
Former president Nicolas Sarkozy, who launched his bid last week to run for presidency again in next year’s election, said wearing a burkini was a political act and a provocation and called for a law that will allow mayors to ban it.
“However, Muslims must continue to engage with us over gender equality, the inviolate nature of the principles of the French Republic, and tolerance in order to live together in peace”, he said.
Although clearly playing to prejudice fanned by the far right against Muslims, Sarkozy’s ostensible objective, supported by all too many on the left, is the defence of France’s much-vaunted, totemic tradition of laicité, rigorous, enforced secularism.
But Cazeneuve said, “we do not need a new law”.
He also criticised the opposition party for using the issue for political gain and stoking tensions during a time of religious unrest.
“Certain opposition leaders are making a lot of noise”. Police in Nice came under fire this week, after photos showed them forcing a woman to remove her burkini, a full-body swimsuit preferred by some Muslim women.
A tribunal in the city previously ruled a burkini ban in the Villeneuve-Loubet resort was “necessary, appropriate and proportionate” to prevent public disorder.
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In early campaigning for presidential elections in April 2017, the controversy along with terror attacks on the country, have become subjects of heated debate, putting French identity and security issues at the forefront.
