France’s Top Court Suspends Burkini Ban

Local Editor

France's highest administrative court on Friday suspended a ban on the burkini by a French Riviera town after it was challenged by rights groups.

In a judgment expected to lead to bans being overturned in around 30 towns, the State Council ruled the measure was a "serious and clearly illegal violation of fundamental freedoms".

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 on the Cote d'Azur between Nice and Cannes.

However, several mayors in southeast France said later on Friday that they would maintain their bans on the burkini despite the court's ruling.

Town hall authorities in Nice said the mayor would continue to fine women wearing burkinis while the mayor of nearby Frejus, David Rachline, announced that "the Frejus order is still valid."

The French Council of the Muslim Faith [CFCM] hailed the ruling earlier as a "victory for common sense."

Police have fined Muslim women for wearing burkinis on beaches in several towns, including in the popular tourist resorts of Nice and Cannes, sparking controversy in France and abroad.

The mayor of one town in Corsica said he would keep his ban in place in defiance of the ruling.

Amnesty International said the decision had "drawn an important line in the sand".

"French authorities must now drop the pretense that these measures do anything to protect the rights of women," Amnesty's Europe director John Dalhuisen said.

"These bans do nothing to increase public safety but do a lot to promote public humiliation."

CFCM secretary general Abdallah Zekri said: "This victory for common sense will help to take the tension out of a situation which has become very tense for our Muslim compatriots, especially women."

The State Council heard arguments from the Human Rights League and an anti-Islamophobia group [CCIF].

A court in Nice had upheld the Villeneuve-Loubet ban this week.

Anger over the issue was further inflamed this week when photographs in the British media showed police surrounding a woman in a headscarf on a beach in Nice.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team