(Newswire.net — September 7, 2016) — In France, the land of ‘Liberté, Egalité and Fraternité’, Corsica joins Nice in banning burkinis on their beaches, The Guardian reports.
Bypassing the recent State Council’s decision that burkinis are not a matter of national security, a French administrative court has approved the ban of Muslim woman’s full-body swimming suits. The reason: because public order had been disrupted in the region.
The Bastia Administrative Court rejected an appeal filed by the Human Rights League (LDH) against the ban, and supported Sisko’s mayor, Ange-Pierre Vivoni, who passed the law against full-body swimming suits [burkini].
According to the court, the presence of burkinis on the beach would risk the disturbance of public order, due the recent terrorist attacks in France, and “sentiments that are not settled.”
“It’s a relief, the Administrative Court handled the case that way,” Mayor Vivoni said, welcoming the court’s decision. “I issued the order to calm things down. We are currently a tinderbox of tensions,” he added.
Mayor Vivoni issued the burkini ban order after a massive fight in Sisko when a large group of Muslim migrants attacked local residents over photographing women swimming in burkinis.
Five people were injured in the fight, three cars were burned out, and some trees growing in the area were also damaged, Bastia’s prosecutor’s office confirmed.
Upon releasing the ban, Major Vivoni stressed that the ban is “not against Muslim people, but to protect them.”
More French coastal towns, including Nice, Villeneuve-Loubet, and the areas of Cannes and Frejus, have banned burkinis from their beaches, which launched an avalanche of pro and con comments on social networks.
More EU countries are banning full-body swimming suits worn by Muslim women on beaches due to the fear of terrorism.
While French opposition is asking for the burkini ban in all of the state and the referendum on Fregzit – France leaving EU, German Chancellor Merkel’s party calls for banning full face cover as it is the opposite of integration in the German society.
The Italian interior minister, however, has ruled out the possibility of Italy following France on banning Muslim female swimwear, and called any ban counterproductive. The minister said that banning burkinis could “provoke violence instead of deterring it.”