France’s highest administrative court yesterday suspended a controversial ban on the burkini by a French Riviera town after it was challenged by rights groups.
Advertisement
Human rights associations in France have asked mayors of towns to abide by the new ruling that has overturned the ban on the burkini on beaches.
It ruled that the mayor of Villeneuve-Loubet overstepped his powers by enacting measures that are not justified by “proven risks of disruptions to public order nor, moreover, on reasons of hygiene or decency”.
The suspension of the ban on the Islamic swimsuit, which has triggered a fierce debate in France and sparked critical headlines around the world, was welcomed by the United Nations, and a French Muslim group said it was a “victory for common sense”.
The court decision was just an initial ruling and more detailed judgment would arrive in future related to the legal issues in wearing burkinis.
According to a survey by Ifpop, 64 per cent of French people are in favour of the burkini bans, while 30 per cent described themselves as “indifferent” and only 6 per cent of respondents were opposed.
So far, at least three mayors have said they will retain the bans on their beaches, despite a court ruling saying the ban “seriously, and clearly illegally, breached the fundamental freedoms to come and go, the freedom of beliefs and individual freedom”.
Burkini critics say the swimwear is a provocative symbol and permitting it on beaches accords radical Islamism a creeping influence on French society.
Prime Minister Manuel Valls yesterday condemned any “stigmatisation” of Muslims, but maintained that the burkini was “a political sign of religious proselytising”.
Human rights activists have hailed the court ruling saying such bans are illegal and are a gesture of Islamophobic.
Ange-Pierre Vivoni, who banned the burkini earlier this month, told BFM-TV on Friday: “Here the tension is very, very, very strong and I won’t withdraw it”. “Not only are they in themselves discriminatory, but as we have seen, the enforcement of these bans leads to abuses and the degrading treatment of Muslim women and girls”, Dalhuisen said.
This decision overturns a lower court decision that called the ban “necessary, appropriate, and proportionate” to preventing public disorder.
The United Nations welcomed the court’s decision, said Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, noting that the UN stood for “the need for people’s personal dignity and person to be respected”. “The Islamization of our country is progressing”, Lionnel Luca added.
This comes after shocking photos showed armed police standing around a Muslim woman with a headscarf, and forcing her to remove her top on a beach in Nice this week.
Aheda Zanetti, the woman who developed the burkini, wrote an op-ed in The Guardian arguing that the burkini ban is fundamentally misguided, as she developed the burkini in the first place as a way to extend freedom to swim and be athletic in public to women who choose to be modest.
Advertisement
The burkini bans have ignited fierce debate in France and worldwide. “I don’t think anyone should tell women what they can and can’t wear”, Mr Khan said during a visit to Paris on Thursday.
