The southern French city of Cannes has banned full-body swimsuits – known as burkinis – from the beach, citing public order concerns.
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Cannes mayor David Lisnard said he had signed off on the burkini ban out of “respect for good customs and secularism”, a founding principle of the French republic.
France has been blighted with a huge number of terror attacks, including the recent truck attack in Nice, just along the coast and many people in France have demanded that the Government act against potential terrorist.
In France Islamic dress is a major issue. But there is no ban on wearing religious symbols or clothing. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the bloodshed in Nice, and less than two weeks later a Roman Catholic priest in northwestern France was slashed to death while celebrating Mass, by attackers who proclaimed their allegiance to the extremist group.
That the debate is occurring on the Riviera, a vacation destination on the Mediterranean but also an anxious region after the terrorist attack on a Bastille Day celebration in the nearby seaside city of Nice, has only added to the controversy.
Not all women who opt to wear burkinis are Muslim.
The two towns in south-eastern France who made a decision to ban the wearing of Burkini on their beaches, Saturday received the support of a judge who refused to suspend the ban on this outfit decreed by the mayor Cannes.
The Mayor cited public order issues, for bringing in the ban, which would see people wearing the swimsuit fined nearly 40 euros (£33).
Lionnel Luca, the mayor of Villeneuve-Loubet, said the burkini ban was being introduced due to sanitary reasons. French law bans people from wearing the burka and niqab in public, but there’s no nationwide ban on burkinis.
Now some politicians and social commentators argue that modesty in public places goes against the secular values of France.
The Collective Against Islamophobia in France said it is filing a lawsuit challenging the legality of the Cannes measure.
It said it was planning to oppose the ban in the courts.
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From now on any Muslim woman who ventures down to the beach at Cannes could be subject to a €38 on the spot fine. A statement on its website said the mayor’s logic was “shocking”, and that equating all Muslim symbols to terrorism would create tensions between Catholics and Muslims.
