France feeling the heat over burkini ban
The French Government has warned that the burkini ban must not lead to the “stigmatisation” of Muslims, as outrage grew around the world over photos of armed police apparently making a woman remove some of her clothing on the beach in Nice.
Bernard Cazeneuve, the Interior Minister, made the warning after he held emergency talks with French Muslim leaders, who demanded he meet them amid the furore over the photos of the woman removing her tunic, watched by four policemen.
“The implementation of secularism, and the option of adopting such decrees [banning burkinis] must not lead to stigmatisation or the creation of hostility between French people,” Cazeneuve said after the meeting.
But he did not call for the bans, decreed by around 30 resorts mostly on the Mediterranean coast, to be overturned, and he noted that the Socialist Prime Minister Manuel Valls had last week given his support to local bans while stopping short of backing a nationwide prohibition.
The bans were implemented on the grounds that the full-body Islamic swimsuit “conspicuously” shows a person’s religion, and their stated aim is to reduce tensions in the wake of the Islamist extremist massacre of 86 people last month in Nice.
But critics say they are being used as an excuse to discriminate against Muslims in France, which has western Europe’s largest Muslim community, at around 5 million people.
The photos of the woman in Nice were taken on Tuesday as she appeared to be snoozing on the beach in front of Promenade des Anglais, the scene of last month’s massacre in which a Tunisian drove a truck into crowds of Bastille Day revellers.
She was wearing a headscarf, but not a burkini. The officers stood around her and, apparently on their instructions, she removed a top that revealed either a sleeveless T-shirt or a swimsuit. She was also wearing leggings. The officers then appear to write her a fine.
The images quickly went viral on social media, sparking mostly negative comments and making #WTFFrance [What the F*** France] a top trending hashtag on Twitter.
The French Council of the Muslim Faith (CFCM), which was set up by the French Government as the official voice of France’s Muslims, said it was outraged at the pictures.
The office of Nice’s mayor denied she had been forced to remove clothing, telling AFP news agency the woman was simply showing police the swimsuit she was wearing under her tunic, over a pair of leggings.
The incident came a day after a 34-year-old mother, who gave her name as Siam, told AFP she was fined on the beach in Cannes for wearing leggings, a tunic and a headscarf. “I had no intention of swimming,” she said.