Among the cities affected by the court’s overturning of burkini bans last week was the seaside city of Nice, which was hit by a devastating attack by an Islamic terrorist who drove his truck along the waterfront Promenade des Anglais, mowing down pedestrians celebrating Bastille Day.
Advertisement
The bans had been justified on public order grounds, and Socialist Prime Minister Manuel Valls appeared to defend the town officials who imposed them.
Two veiled women who were told by a French restaurateur that all Muslims are terrorists before being forced to leave the restaurant complained to authorities on Monday, an anti-Islamophobia campaign group said.
Colville went on to criticise “the manner in which the anti-burkini decrees have been implemented in some French resorts” as “humiliating and degrading”.
Republican politicians have offered their support for local bans and Nicholas Sarkozy said he would change France’s constitution to ban the burkini if he was elected president.
Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve met senior Muslim representatives Monday to hammer out a plan that includes the creation of a foundation to support Islam in France, funded exclusively from within the country to reduce the influence of overseas donors, Middle East Eye reported.
“You have to behave in the way that people behave in the country that accepted you, and that is it”, Cogolin Mayor Marc Etienne Lansade told CNN.
The suspension of the ban on the 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 New York Times reports that despite the ruling, France’s parliament could still ban the full-body swimsuit, and some of the candidates running in the country’s 2017 presidential election want to do away with wearing religious attire in public.
Local mayors have cited security concerns amongst a variety of reasons for the bans.
He stuck to his guns on Friday evening, saying the State Council’s ruling “does not end the debate which has been opened”. The headscarf was banned from schools in 2004.
Advertisement
The July 14 attack on revellers in Nice, the killing of a priest in Normandy on July 26 and the killing of a police couple in their home in June – all claimed by ISIS – have focused tensions on Muslims. Some have also received fines for wearing the clothing.
