David Lisnard, the mayor of Cannes, has banned burkinis, or full body swimsuits with head coverings, from the beach on the basis of public concern. 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”.
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A City Hall official said the ordinance, in effect for August, could apply to burkini-style swimsuits.
Oxford Eagle reports burkinis, which cover the entire head and body, with the exception of the face, hands, and feet, were specifically designed for Muslim women.
The Cannes beach ban is just the latest of many French measures seen as singling out Islam, the country’s second larrgest religion, in the name of official secularism.
Previously France banned the Burka in 2011 and was the first country in Europe to make the decision.
The ban notification states, “Access to beaches and for swimming is banned to anyone who does not have bathing items, which respects good customs and secularism”. Those who refuse to comply with the burkini ban will be forced to leave the beach and pay a 38 Euro fine, about U.S. $42.
She said rich Saudi Arabian princesses would not be sanctioned, and instead police would humiliate ‘a veiled mother who simply wants to take her children to cool off at the beach’.
The Collective Against Islamophobia in France said it is filing a lawsuit challenging the legality of the Cannes measure.
Meanwhile a waterpark near the French city of Marseille, which had planned to host a “Burkini only” day, has called the event off.
The court said the rule was legal under French law that prohibits people “invoking their religious beliefs to skirt common rules regulating relations between public authorities and private individuals”. 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 that they had received bullets in the mail.
However, the ban has drawn condemnation from a number of people and human rights groups. Some Orthodox Jewish women have written about wearing burkinis or similar items of clothing while swimming in order to keep in line with their beliefs.
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‘The law on the full-face veil only bans covering the face in public.
