A beachgoer in Cannes, France, can now be fined and asked to leave the beach if caught wearing a “burkini”, a full-body swimsuit preferred by Muslim women.
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Last month, David Lisnard ordinance the ordinance ruling that “access to beaches and for swimming is banned to anyone who does not have (bathing apparel) which respects good customs and secularism”. City ordinances in Cannes effectively forbade the burkini as well as swimwear that “ostentatiously displays religious affiliation, when France and places of worship are now the target of terrorist attacks”. Noncompliance to the measure will result in a €38 fine, equivalent to $42.
Citing fears of a similar attack, Lisnard has deemed the modest swimsuit a “symbol of Islamic extremism”, potentially causing public unrest.
Sama Wareh wears an example of swimwear designed for Muslim women.
The Islamic full-length swimming suit known as Burqini is displayed on mannequins at a sports store in Dubai.
The ban was also criticised by anti-racism group SOS Racisme, which attacked what it said was the mayor’s “strategy of tension”.
Although the Cannes burkini ban is new, France already has laws in place to forbid women from wearing veils that cover the face in public.
The Associated Press contributed reporting.
“Must we remind this mayor that about 30 of the victims of the attack in Nice were Muslims, because terrorism targets us all indiscriminately?” the statement said.
The local branch of the Human Rights League warned that the Cannes burkini ban could further alienate French Muslims.
Nissrine Samali, 20, gets into the sea wearing traditional Islamic dress, in Marseille, southern France.
Located in the south of France, Cannes is also popular and expensive tourist destination, housing an annual star-studded film festival.
The mayor calls the burkini “the uniform of extremist Islamism, not of the Muslim religion”.
Muslim rights activists disagree. We live in a common public space, there are rules to follow.
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An umbrella group, the Collective Against Islamophobia, said it was filing a lawsuit to challenge the legality of Cannes’ ban, saying it is “deeply worried”. Authorities have also banned the face-covering niqab, and girls from wearing veils at school. The new law points out that burkinis show religious affiliation in a very non-discrete manner, and because France localities have been subject to acts of terror, the ban appears as a measure of promoting public order and the safety of the city’s tourists.
