Court suspends burkini ban
MARSEILLE — French resorts were defiant after a ban on the burkini in a Riviera town was overturned, vowing to keep the restrictions in place and continue imposing fines on women who wear the full-body swimsuit.
In a judgement expected to lead to bans being overturned in around 30 coastal towns, the State Council, France's highest administrative court, ruled Friday the measure was a "serious and clearly illegal violation of fundamental freedoms."
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 UN, and a French Muslim group said it was a "victory for common sense."
But the ruling, which only applied to the ban imposed by Villeneuve-Loubet, was quickly dismissed by several other towns, including Nice, which vowed to keep the restrictions in place and continue imposing fines on women who wear the full-body swimsuit.
In its decision, the court said local authorities could only introduce measures restricting individual freedoms if wearing the swimsuit on beaches represented a "proven risk" to public order. The judges said there was no such risk in the case before the court concerning Villeneuve-Loubet, a resort between Nice and Cannes.
Police action to fine Muslim women for wearing burkinis on beaches in several towns, including in the tourist resorts of Nice and Cannes, has triggered a fierce debate about women's rights and the French state's strictly-guarded secularism.
"From now on, it is up to everyone to take responsibility for cooling off, which is the only way to avoid public order disturbances and to try and live together," Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said.
But the ruling provoked defiance from several Riviera resorts, which pledged to continue imposing fines.
In recent weeks, around 30 French municipalities decided to ban access to public beaches "by anyone not wearing proper attire, which is respectful of good morality and the principle of secularism and not respectful of the rules of hygiene and bathing security."
Nice town hall said it would "continue to fine" women wearing the burkini and the far-right mayor of Frejus, David Rachline, insisted his ban was "still valid," telling AFP there was "no legal procedure" against his ruling.
Ange-Pierre Vivoni, Socialist mayor of the Corsican town of Sisco, said his burkini ban, introduced this month following a confrontation between Moroccan bathers and locals, would also remain "for the safety of property and people in the town because I risked having deaths on my hands."
Amnesty International said Friday's court decision had "drawn an important line in the sand." Amnesty's Europe director John Dalhuisen said, "These bans do nothing to increase public safety but do a lot to promote public humiliation." It is now time that the French authorities "drop the pretense" that the ban was about protecting women's rights, he added.