The mayor of Cannes has banned full-body, head-covering swimsuits from its beaches of the French Riviera resort at a time of heightened security.
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“Access to beaches and for swimming is banned to any person wearing improper clothes that are not respectful of good morals and secularism”, says Lisnard.
“Swimwear displaying religious affiliation in an ostentatious way, while France and its religious sites are now the target of terrorist attacks, could create risks of trouble to public order”, the decree read.
The order banning burkinis from the beach was issued on July 28, and no burkinis had been seen in public since then, he added. Secularism is a founding principle of the French republic.
Ms. Ben Mohamed also asked why “religious symbols” including the Jewish Kippa and the headdresses of Christian nuns were not being banned. ‘The law on the full-face veil only bans covering the face in public.
Sama Wareh wears an example of swimwear designed for Muslim women.
Nobody has been apprehended for wearing a burkini in Cannes since the edict came into force at the end of July.
Authorities claimed it is needed to prevent outbreaks of public disorder, and then appeared to suggest any Muslim woman wearing the burqini is a terrorist.
“The policy is created to exclude Muslims from public space and will only serve to further marginalize and alienate Muslims in French society”, Maha Elgenaidi, the chief executive of the Islamic Networks Group, a U.S. nonprofit dedicated to promoting understanding, tells The Christian Science Monitor in an email.
France has been the target of several terror attacks in the past few years; a truck attack in Nice in July was the most recent incident.
This decision of the city of Cannes, also decreed Saturday in the nearby town of Villeneuve-Loubet, had been challenged in court Friday by three women and the Collective against Islamophobia in France (CCIF) that the deemed illegal and demanded his suspension.
Earlier this week a waterpark near Marseille cancelled plans to host a burkini party at an indoor pool after it sparked outrage among politicians on both sides of the French political spectrum.
French officials have defended the laws, which are meant to “preserve secular values and protect women from religious oppression”.
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Last month a man linked to Islamic State killed 85 people using a lorry in Nice, just 20 miles along the French Riviera from Cannes.
