PARIS (AA) – Despite strong condemnation by Muslims and rights groups, three more French towns are moving to ban the cover-up “burkini” swimsuits worn by some Muslim women, as Prime Minister Manuel Valls voiced support for such measures Wednesday.
The Collective Against Islamophobia in France (CCIF) said it had filed an appeal against a court ruling upholding the bans, warning that they pose a threat to social peace and would only serve to divide France more.
Such prohibitions “have serious consequences by antagonizing the public debate and turning communities against each other,” said Michel Tubiana, president emeritus of the French League of Human Rights (LDH), adding that the law should not dictate how people should dress.
The mayors of the three resorts towns – Leucate near Perpignan, Oye-Plage, and Le Touquet in Pas-de-Calais – said late Tuesday that they signed decrees enacting bans.
A decree signed by Leucate’s mayor, Michel Py, said access to public beaches is barred to “any person who is not properly dressed, respectful of moral behavior and secularism, hygiene and bathing safety.”
The decree runs until Aug. 31.
Valls said he “understands” and “supports” the mayors who have issued orders to ban the wearing of burkinis – also called hashemas – as such garments are “not compatible with the values of France and the republic.”
“I understand the mayors who, in this moment of tension, have the reflex to look for solutions, to avoid disturbing public order,” Valls said in an interview published Wednesday by local daily La Provence.
Valls said the swimwear represents a “provocation” and an “archaic vision” that women are “immodest, impure, and that they should therefore be totally covered.”
“Beaches, like any public space, must be protected from religious demands. The burkini is not a new range of swimwear. It is the translation of a political project, based in particular on the subjugation of women,” he said.
The three towns join the Corsican village of Sisco and the Riviera resorts of Cannes and Villeneuve-Loubet, which banned the full-body swimsuits this week and last week, respectively.
The mayors of the towns argue that burkinis are a breach of France’s secular constitution.
A French court in Nice upheld the ban on Saturday.
In Cannes, police have already begun enforcing the ban, fining three women 38 euros ($43) each last weekend for not respecting the prohibition, reported local daily Nice Matin.
Six other women were also were warned for being “too covered” on the beach.
– Violations of personal liberties, threats to social peace
The Collective Against Islamophobia in France said it had filed an appeal against the Nice ruling to France’s highest administrative court,
“This case, which has become political, will likely have serious consequences by antagonizing the public debate and turning communities against each other, at a time when we dearly need unity,” the CCIF said in a statement.
Tubiana of the French League of Human Rights (LDH) said the decrees are “stigmatizing … and violate individual liberties.”
He said the league has also launched legal action against the decrees. Speaking on France Info radio Tuesday, Tubiana lashed out at the government for not doing the same.
“It is truly dramatic: the government has filed no appeal against these orders, although it could have contested it before the administrative [court],” Tubiana said.
Pointing out that France’s Muslims are also French, he added: “One does not have to dictate to people – whatever we think of burkinis – how they have to dress.”
