France’s highest administrative court, has just suspended the controversial ban on the burkini by a French Riviera town after it was challenged by rights groups.
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The court said local authorities could only introduce measures restricting individual freedoms if wearing the Islamic swimsuit on beaches represented a “proven risk” to public order.
Those who argued for the ban said face coverings prevent the clear identification of a person, which is both a security risk and a social hindrance in a society that relies on facial recognition and expression in communication.
But town hall authorities in Nice said the mayor would continue to fine women wearing burkinis while the mayor of nearby Frejus, David Rachline, said that “the Frejus order is still valid”.
The court will make a final decision on the legality of the bans later.
Many conservatives and right-wing French nationals supported the burkini ban, with some calling for it to be extended nationwide, while civil liberties campaigners, feminists and Muslims opposed it.
The bans have divided France’s government and society and drawn anger overseas, especially after images circulated online showing police appearing to force a Muslim woman to take off her tunic.
Outside the French embassy in London on Thursday, a women-only protest was making a bit more sense than the fashion police on the Riviera.
The ruling could set a precedent for up to 30 other towns that imposed similar bans.
Human rights activists have hailed the court ruling saying such bans are illegal and are a gesture of Islamophobic.
In a statement, the LDH welcomed the verdict but said it will not resolve the presented issue.
Bishop Nunzio Galantino, the secretary-general of the Italian bishops’ conference, had earlier voiced his fear that the logic of a ban on burkinis could be applied to nuns’ habits.
CCTV’s reporter Greg Navarro interviewed the Australian inventor of the full-body Burkini swimsuit, Aheda Zanetti, who told us that she’s shocked by the controversy surrounding her design.
She claims she was given a verbal warning when she refused to remove the garment.
Reacting to the court ruling on Friday, Prime Minister Manuel Valls, a Socialist, said that France needed a modern, secular Islam and wearing a burkini clashed with that idea.
John Dalhuisen, Amnesty International’s Europe director had called for France to overturn “a discriminatory ban that is fuelled by and is fuelling prejudice and intolerance”.
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The emotion and concerns arising from the terrorist attacks, notably the one perpetrated in Nice on 14 July, can not suffice to justify in law the contested prohibition measure.
