Protests denounce French anti-Muslim ‘burkini ban’

Reuters/Neil Hall

Dozens of women held a “beach party” outside the French Embassy in London, above, Aug. 25 to protest the banning of Muslim women wearing full-body bathing suits by some 30 municipal governments in France. Similar protests took place that day in Berlin and in Leucate, France, one of the towns that imposed a “burkini ban.”

Over the summer some Muslim women have faced fines and police harassment for wearing headscarves and other clothing of their choice to the beach. A video from a beach in Nice shows a woman surrounded by armed cops, apparently being forced to remove her long-sleeve top. The ordinances officially bar “beachwear which ostentatiously displays religious affiliation,” in the name of “public order” and “secularism.”

France’s top administrative court overturned the burkini ban for the town of Villeneuve-Loubet Aug. 26, saying the decree was an “illegal infringement on basic freedoms such as freedom to come and go, freedom of conscience and personal freedom.” But neither the fight over such discriminatory moves, nor the debate on the rights of Muslims has ended. Ange-Pierre Vivoni, Socialist Party mayor of Sisco, Corsica, vowed not to withdraw the ban there. Prime Minister Manuel Valls, also of the Socialist Party, has supported the decrees. Former President Nicolas Sarkozy called for a nationwide ban on the burkini as he launched a new presidential bid for his Republican party
Aug. 25.

— NAOMI CRAINE