“We are teaching the French public to associate a woman in (a) burkini with the terrorist who assassinates”. In a country that already enacted a “burqa ban” forbidding full-face veils, the seaside resort towns Leucate, Oye-Plage, and Le Touquet are expected to also ban the burkini. “It [the burqini] is contrary to the principle of secularism and not very respectful towards women”, Olivier Majewicz said, as cited by La Voix Du Nord Newspaper.
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Valls explained to La Provence, “There is the idea that [in Islam], by nature, women are immodest, impure, and that they therefore should be totally covered”. “Beachwear that 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”.
In response to recent terror attacks, some French leaders are taking a hard look at beach-appropriate fashion.
As the center-right opposition Les Républicains, led by former President Nicolas Sarkozy, prepares for presidential primaries in November, leading figures are jockeying for position on the swimwear issue.
“Politicians should try to calm tensions and stop creating hysteria”, he told AFP, asking politicians and burkini wearers to both step back from the fight.
Valls said he understood the mayors’ decisions to ban the burkini for the sake of public order, but added that “a general regulation of dress requirements can not be a solution”. Around 5 million Muslims live in France, comprising 8 percent of the population, the article noted.
The bans have provoked strong criticism from Muslim groups and anti-discrimination organisations, who argue women should have the freedom to dress how they wish. Authorities stopped short of a blanket ban, but outlawed wearing the veil and other conspicuous religious symbolism in schools or public sector workplaces.
The first ban on the burkini has been attributed to Mandelieu-la-Napoule, close to Cannes, where it was discreetly barred in July 2013. The ban will end on August 31.
The Collective Against Islamophobia in France (CCIF) said it had filed an appeal against a court ruling upholding the bans, warning that they pose a threat to social peace and would only serve to divide France more.
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A local council source in Cannes said the ten women were “dealt with” under the new regulations over the past four days. The village Villeneuve-Loubet soon followed “for hygienic reasons”, the mayor said (um, what?), adding that “In France, one does not come to the beach dressed to display one’s religious convictions, especially as they are false convictions that the religion does not demand”.
