France’s recent burkini ban has triggered an worldwide debate that reaches far beyond the beaches of Nice, Cannes and Corsica.
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The Nice tribunal ruled on Monday that the ban in Villeneuve-Loubet was “necessary, appropriate and proportionate” to prevent public disorder after a succession of jihadists attacks in France, including one in Nice on July 14.
PARIS (AP) – France’s highest administrative authority is studying whether local bans on full-body burkini swimsuits are legal, amid growing concerns in the country and overseas about police forcing Muslim women to disrobe.
FRENCH presidential hopeful Nicolas Sarkozy has waded into the Burkini debate – branding the muslim swimming costume a “provocation” that supports radical Islam. “I wanted to introduce a full range of clothing to suit a Muslim woman – or any woman – that wanted a bit of modesty and wanted to participate in any sporting activities”, Zanetti told the paper.
Anger over the ban was further inflamed when photographs were published in the British media of police surrounding a veiled woman on a beach removing her tunic.
“Today, we saw police forcing a woman on the beach in Nice to remove a tunic, while she wasn’t even wearing a burqini, causing the commotion in the national community”, the statement said.
They say the Burkini defies French laws on secularism.
She received a ticket which read that she was not wearing “an outfit respecting good morals and secularism”.
In a separate talk with French broadcaster TF1 on Wednesday, Les Republican party leader Sarkozy said that Muslims in France are French people “exactly like any other ones”.
A series of local town bans on burkinis in France has set off a heated debate in the strictly secular country.
France’s highest administrative court, the State Council, is expected to review an appeal by the Human Rights League (LDH) to end the burkini ban, which is in effect on about 15 French beaches.
Likewise, “Beachwear which ostentatiously displays religious affiliation, when France and places of worship are now the target of terrorist attacks, is liable to create risks of disrupting public order”.
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Some people also think that the burkini is a symbol of women’s inequality to men in the Islamic religion.
