A French island has banned the wearing of “burkinis” after a brawl broke out on the beach on the weekend, that involved hatchets and harpoons.
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The exclusive resort on the French Riviera took the step of banning the full body swim suits.
The socialist government’s minister for women’s rights, Laurence Rossignol, said municipal bans on the burkini should not be seen in the context of terrorism but she supported the bans.
“I understand the mayors who, in this moment of tension, have the reflex to look for solutions, to avoid disturbing public order”, Valls said in an interview published Wednesday by local daily La Provence.
France remains in a state of emergency following multiple terror attacks, including the lorry massacre in Nice, the murder of a priest in Normandy and the Paris atrocity previous year.
He said the wearing of burkinis amounted to a violation of “good customs and secularism”.
It comes after authorities in the popular seaside resorts of Cannes and Villenueve-Loubet also outlawed “burkinis” – a swimsuit used by Muslim women to keep themselves covered.
The women were all stopped by police in Cannes where a ban on the conservative swimming attire came into place on 28 July. The burkini is not a new range of swimwear, a fashion.
The cities of Cannes, Villeneuve-Loubet and Sisco on the island of Corsica have banned the traditional swimsuit for Muslim women.
France is at the height of vacation season, and on edge after deadly Islamic extremist attacks in Nice and on a Catholic church in northwest France. The organizers, the Smile 13 group, which describes itself on Facebook as a sports and social event group for women and children, said they had received death threats, with one person even claiming they had received bullets in the mail. “If we want to build an Islam of France compatible with our values, our freedoms, gender equality, it is necessary that Islam, like other religions have done, accept the discretion in the manifestation of religious beliefs” said the Prime Minister.
One French outlet, Le Monde, referred to the burqa ban law, stating, “The law on the full-face veil only bans covering the face in public …”
“Women’s rights imply the right for a woman to cover up”, Alouane, a Muslim born and raised in France, said.
In the wake of the fight, the mayor of Sisco made a decision to implement a burkini ban similar to those in place at Cannes, Villeneuve-Loubet and Touquet.
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He also added that “regulations on prescribing clothes can not be a solution”.
