French mayors defy top court's 'burkini' ruling

By Hajer M'tiri

PARIS

Several French mayors are defying last week’s ruling by the country’s top court overturning the controversial ‘burkini ban’ on some public beaches and resort towns.

Reports have emerged of several women being fined and ordered to leave beaches over the weekend.

France’s Council of State ruled last week that the ban carried a “serious and manifestly illegal infringement of fundamental freedoms such as the freedom to come and go, freedom of conscience and personal freedom”.

The ruling, which applied to the ban imposed by the town of Villeneuve-Loubet, canceled orders issued by lower-court judges in Nice and represented an immediate suspension of the restriction which was operating in 26 separate localities.

However, mayors of some towns have vowed to challenge the court’s decision and refused to lift the ban. Most of the restrictions are still in place along the French Riviera, including in Nice and a swathe of resorts along the Cote d’Azur.

In Nice, video footage showed police in a motorboat ordering a woman who was wearing a headscarf, a long top and leggings to leave a beach on Saturday.

Other images from Nice emerged of police ordering two women wearing sunhats and headscarves off a beach.

Feiza Ben Mohamed, secretary general of the Federation of Muslims of the South, tweeted a letter sent by the group to Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve, asking him to intervene “to stop the violation of the rule of law”.

“The rule of law is the essence of our Republic. It is now ridiculed by local elected representatives for purely electoral and populist purposes,” Ben Mohamed wrote.

Former center-right President Nicolas Sarkozy, who is running for office again in next year’s election, has called for a law allowing mayors to ban the concealing swimwear.

However, Cazeneuve told La Croix newspaper on Sunday that such a law was unlikely under the current Socialist government.

"The government ... refuses to legislate on this because a law would be unconstitutional, ineffective and likely to create antagonism and irreparable tensions," he said. "We do not need a new law. Current laws clearly lay out France's secularism."

Headscarf incident

Elsewhere in France, two Muslim women wearing headscarves were thrown out of a restaurant in a Paris suburb on Saturday after being threatened by its owner.

Footage of the incident emerged showing the owner of the high-ranked Le Cenacle restaurant in Tremblay-en-France, refusing to serve the women, saying: “Terrorists are Muslims, and all Muslims are terrorists. This is a secular country and I have a right to an opinion… I don’t want people like you here. Full stop.”

When contaced by Anadolu Agency on Monday, no one at the restaurant was available for comment.

Local media later reported that the restaurateur said he regretted what happened, adding he had got caught up in the controversy surrounding the burkini ban.

The incident sparked anger and calls to boycott the restaurant flooded social media sites despite the owner’s apology.

According to French daily Le Parisien, a criminal enquiry has been launched and the chef has now been questioned by police on suspicion of enacting “racial discrimination”.