PARIS (Reuters) - A French court on Friday suspended a ban on women wearing full-body “burkini” swimsuits on a Mediterranean town’s beach but the prime minister said the debate was not over, calling the outfit a symbol of a “backwards, deadly Islamism”.

The Council of State’s ruling against the resort of Villeneuve-Loubet is expected to set a precedent for the dozens of French towns that have also laid down such bans.

It said Villeneuve-Loubet’s ban had “seriously infringed, in a manner that was clearly illegal, fundamental liberties such as the freedom to come and go, religious freedom and individual freedom”.

The burkinis did not pose any threat to public order, said the council, which is France’s highest administrative court.

The ban had been imposed on the grounds that wearing burkinis contravened French laws on secularism.

It followed a series of deadly attacks by Islamist militants in Paris, Nice and elsewhere in the past 20 months that shocked the world but also raised questions about the place of France’s large Muslim and Arab population in its society.

Many conservatives and right-wing French supported the burkini ban, with some calling for it to be extended nationwide, while civil liberties campaigners, feminists and Muslims opposed it. The debate was fuelled by footage of police trying to enforce the ban on a woman on the beach in Nice.

Reacting to the court ruling on Friday, Prime Minister Manuel Valls, a Socialist, said that France needed a modern, secular Islam and wearing a burkini clashed with that idea.

“The Council of State ruling does not close the debate on the burkini,” Valls said on Facebook. “Denouncing the burkini is not calling into question individual freedom.. .It is denouncing deadly, backwards Islamism.”

The issue has filtered into early campaigning for the presidential election in April 2017, making French cultural identity as well as security a hot issue in political debates.

A man wears a placard with the message, "Burkini = Liberty" outside the Conseil d'Etat after France's highest administrative court suspended a ban on full-body burkini swimsuits that has outraged Muslims and opened divisions within the government, pending a definitive ruling, in Paris, France, August 26, 2016. REUTERS/Regis Duvignau

Former President Nicolas Sarkozy on Thursday launched his comeback bid on a hardline law and order platform.

A LOT OF TENSION

“We need a law,” Nice’s conservative deputy mayor Christian Estrosi said on Twitter, calling for a bill that would allow burkini bans.

Since conservatives do not have a majority in parliament and such a bill would have no chance of being adopted, Estrosi suggested that Valls come up with a draft law.

But Valls’ support for the bans over past weeks has exposed divisions within the government, with several ministers saying they opposed them.

While rulings by the Council of State do set precedents, several mayors said they would not suspend their own bans and rights groups said they would bring them to courts, meaning more lawsuits are expected. The Council of State would still have the final word.

“There’s a lot of tension here and I won’t withdraw my decree,” Sisco mayor Ange-Pierre Vivoni told BFM TV, saying that in his Corsica town the ban would be justified on security grounds.

A spokesman for the ruling Socialist Party and the rector of the Great Mosque of Paris, Dalil Boubakeur welcomed the court ruling and said he hoped it would calm things down.

But the mayor of Villeneuve-Loubet, Lionnel Luca, of Sarkozy’s Les Republicains party, said it would heighten tensions.

“We need to decide if we want a smiley, friendly version of sharia on our beaches or if we want the rules of the (French) republic to be implemented,” he said, referring to the Islamic legal and moral code of sharia.

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Hakim, a 42-year-old trader of Algerian origin said that while he welcomed the ruling it did not really reassure him.

“It is because of all these problems that I am thinking of leaving France and returning to Algeria after over 30 years here. It was not like this before, France has changed and it is not easy for us,” he said after Friday prayers at Paris’ main mosque.</s>France’s highest administrative court on Friday suspended a controversial ban on the burkini by a French Riviera town after it was challenged by rights groups.

In a judgement expected to set a precedent, the State Council ruled that local authorities could only restrict individual liberties if wearing the Islamic swimsuit was a “proven risk” to public order.

The judges said there was no such risk in the case before the court concerning Villeneuve-Loubet, one of around 30 towns to have introduced the bans.

The French Council of the Muslim Faith (CFCM) hailed the ruling 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 burkini bans have triggered a fierce debate about women’s rights and the French state’s strictly-guarded secularism.

– ‘Line in the sand’ -Amnesty International welcomed the ruling.

“By overturning a discriminatory ban that is fuelled by and is fuelling prejudice and intolerance, today’s decision has drawn an important line in the sand,” Amnesty’s Europe director John Dalhuisen said.

“French authorities must now drop the pretence that these measures do anything to protect the rights of women,” he said.

The CFCM’s 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.

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

President Francois Hollande said Thursday that life in France “supposes that everyone sticks to the rules and that there is neither provocation nor stigmatisation”.

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 as she removed a long-sleeved top.

The office of Nice’s mayor denied that the woman had been forced to remove clothing, telling AFP she was showing police the swimsuit she was wearing under her top, over a pair of leggings, when the picture was taken.

Prime Minister Manuel Valls on Thursday condemned any “stigmatisation” of Muslims, but maintained that the burkini was “a political sign of religious proselytising”.

“We are not at war with Islam… the French republic is welcoming (to Muslims), we are protecting them against discrimination,” he told BFMTV.

But in a sign of the divisions within the Socialist government on the issue, Education Minister Najat Vallaud-Belkacem said the “proliferation” of burkini bans “was not a welcome development”.

Vallaud-Belkacem, who is of Moroccan origin, took issue with the wording of the ban in Nice which linked the measure to the jihadist truck attack in the resort last month in which 86 people were killed.

“In my opinion, there is nothing to prove that there is a link between the terrorism of Daesh and what a woman wears on a beach,” she said, using another term for Islamic State.

But Valls contradicted his minister’s claims, saying the bans were necessary to maintain “public order”.

– ‘No legal justification’ -The administrative court in Nice ruled Monday that the Villeneuve-Loubet ban was “necessary” to prevent “public disorder” after the Nice attack and the murder of a Catholic priest by two jihadists in northern France.

But in its ruling, the State Council said: “In the absence of such risks, the emotion and the concerns arising from terrorist attacks, especially the attack in Nice on July 14, are not sufficient to legally justify a ban.”

The so-called burkini bans never actually mention the word burkini, although they are clearly aimed at the garment which covers the hair but leaves the face visible and stretches down to the ankles.

The vague wording of the prohibitions has caused confusion.

Apart from the incident in the photographs in Nice, a 34-year-old mother of two told AFP on Tuesday she had been fined on the beach in the resort of Cannes wearing leggings, a tunic and a headscarf.

France was the first European country to ban the wearing of the Islamic face veil in public in 2010.</s>(CNN) Mayors do not have the right to ban burkinis, France's highest administrative court ruled Friday.

The Council of State's ruling suspends a ban in the town of Villeneuve-Loubet, near Nice, and could affect cities around the country that have prohibited the full-length swimsuit.

More than 30 French towns have banned burkinis , which cover the whole body except for the face, hands and feet.

Officials say the ban on the burkini -- worn mostly by Muslim women -- was a response to growing terror concerns

Human rights activists argue that such measures are illegal, and that pushes to outlaw the garment are Islamophobic.

Authorities in Nice say the officers were simply exercising their duties. Deputy Mayor Christian Estrosi denounced the photos, saying they put the officers in danger.

"I condemn these unacceptable provocations," he said.

In London, demonstrators created a makeshift beach Thursday outside the French Embassy for a "Wear what you want beach party."

Jenny Dawkins, a Church of England priest, told CNN she joined the protest after seeing a photo of the incident in Nice.

"I think it's a frightening image," she said. "I find it quite chilling to see an image of a woman surrounded by men with guns being told to take her clothes off."

In April 2011, France became the first European country to ban wearing in public the burqa, a full-body covering that includes a mesh over the face, and the niqab, a full-face veil with an opening for the eyes.

And much like the recent burkini bans, opinion in the country is divided between those who see the laws as an infringement on religious freedom, and those who view the Islamic dress as inconsistent with France's rigorously enforced secularism.</s>France’s highest administrative court on Friday suspended a controversial ban on the burkini by a French Riviera town after it was challenged by rights groups.

In a judgement expected to set a precedent, the State Council ruled that local authorities could only restrict individual liberties if wearing the Islamic swimsuit was a “proven risk” to public order.

The judges said there was no such risk in the case before the court concerning Villeneuve-Loubet, one of around 30 towns to have introduced the bans.

The French Council of the Muslim Faith (CFCM) hailed the ruling 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 burkini bans have triggered a fierce debate about women’s rights and the French state’s strictly-guarded secularism.

“By overturning a discriminatory ban that is fuelled by and is fuelling prejudice and intolerance, Friday’s decision has drawn an important line in the sand,” Amnesty’s Europe director John Dalhuisen said.“French authorities must now drop the pretence that these measures do anything to protect the rights of women,” he said.

The CFCM’s 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.

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

President Francois Hollande said yesterday that life in France “supposes that everyone sticks to the rules and that there is neither provocation nor stigmatization”.

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 as she removed a long-sleeved top.

The office of Nice’s mayor denied that the woman had been forced to remove clothing, telling AFP she was showing police the swimsuit she was wearing under her top, over a pair of leggings, when the picture was taken.

Prime Minister Manuel Valls on Thursday condemned any “stigmatization” of Muslims, but maintained that the burkini was “a political sign of religious proselytizing”.

But in a sign of the divisions within the Socialist government on the issue, Education Minister Najat Vallaud- Belkacem said the “proliferation” of burkini bans “was not a welcome development”.

Vallaud-Belkacem, who is of Moroccan origin, took issue with the wording of the ban in Nice which linked the measure to the jihadist truck attack in the resort last month in which 86 people were killed. “In my opinion, there is nothing to prove that there is a link between the terrorism of Daesh and what a woman wears on a beach,” she said, using another term for Islamic State.</s>France’s highest administrative court has suspended a ban on the burkini in a Riviera coastal town after a challenge by rights groups.

The ruling from the state council suspends a single decree against full-body swimsuits issued by the mayor in the southern resort of Villeneuve-Loubet, near Nice. But it is likely to set a precedent for other towns that have banned the swimwear on their beaches.

The state council ruled that the mayor did not have the right to issue a burkini ban – stating that local authorities could only restrict individual liberties if there was a “proven risk” to public order. It believed that proven risk had not been demonstrated.

The bans – made in the form of short-term mayoral decrees – began to be issued in a series of beach spots following the Bastille Day attack in Nice and the murder of a priest in Normandy.

They do not explicitly use the word burkini but ban “beachwear which ostentatiously displays religious affiliation”, citing reasons such as the need to protect public order, hygiene or French laws on secularism.

At a hearing before the state council on Thursday, lawyers for the rights groups in the Villeneuve-Loubet case argued that the bans were feeding fear and infringe on basic freedom. 



A lower court had ruled on Monday that the Villeneuve-Loubet ban was necessary to prevent public disorder. But the state council found that this did not hold up under French law. 



The row over burkinis had intensified after a woman in a headscarf was photographed on a beach in Nice removing a long-sleeved top while surrounded by armed police.

The city banned the burkini on its beaches last week, following about 15 seaside areas in south-east France where mayors had done the same.

The bans have divided France’s government and society and drawn anger abroad. The former president, Nicolas Sarkozy, campaigning for his party’s nomination to run again as president in 2017, used his first public rally this week to call for a nationwide ban on the swimsuits, while the Socialist government has become divided, with the prime minister and one of its leading feminist voices at cabinet-level taking opposing positions.

The burkini bans have prompted a row over the French principle of laïcité – secularism – amid accusations that politicians are twisting and distorting this principle for political gain, and using it to target Muslims.



The French republic is built on a strict separation of church and state, intended to foster equality for all private beliefs. In theory, the state is neutral in terms of religion and allows everyone the freedom to practise their faith as long as there is no threat to public order.</s>France’s top judges have suspended a ban on burkinis on French beaches which sparked worldwide outrage and criticism.

The country’s highest administrative court released a statement saying the ban would be suspended pending a definitive ruling.

It said the ban "seriously and clearly illegally breached fundamental freedoms to come and go, freedom of beliefs and individual freedom".

The Conseil d'Etat gave the ruling following a request from the League of Human Rights to overturn the burkini ban in the Mediterranean town of Villeneuve-Loubet on the grounds it contravenes civil liberties.

A human rights lawyer says the decision by France's top administrative court to overturn a ban on burkini swimsuits should set a legal precedent for the whole country.

Lawyer Patrice Spinosi, representing the Human Rights League, told reporters that other mayors who have banned burkinis must conform to Friday's decision regarding the town of Villeneuve-Loubet.

He also said women who have already received fines can protest them based on Friday's decision.

"It is a decision that is meant to set legal precedent," he said. "Today all the ordinances taken should conform to the decision of the Council of State. Logically the mayors should withdraw these ordinances. If not legal actions could be taken" against those towns.

"Today the state of law is that these ordinances are not justified. They violate fundamental liberties and they should be withdrawn."

But the mayor of Sisco in northern Corsica says he won't lift his ban which was put in place after sunbathers of North African origin clashed with Sisco villagers on the beach earlier in August.

He told BFM-TV on Friday: "Here the tension is very, very, very strong and I won't withdraw it."

A protest against France’s “oppressive” ban on was staged at the country’s embassy in London on Thursday.

Both Muslim and non-Muslim women donned burkinis, bikinis and swimsuits to sit on a makeshift beach in a bid to force the French government to repeal the "oppressive" law, under which women on beaches have been ordered to remove religious clothing by armed police.

Under the French legal system, temporary decisions can be handed down before the court takes more time to prepare a judgement on the underlying legality of the case.

This page is being updated.</s>(CNN) Mayors do not have the right to ban burkinis, France's highest administrative court ruled Friday.

The Council of State's ruling suspends a ban in the town of Villeneuve-Loubet, near Nice, and could affect cities around the country that have prohibited the full-length swimsuit.

More than 30 French towns have banned burkinis , which cover the whole body except for the face, hands and feet.

Officials say banning the burkini -- worn mostly by Muslim women -- is a response to growing terror concerns and heightened tensions after a series of terror attacks.

Human rights activists argue that burkini bans are illegal, and that pushes to outlaw the garment are Islamophobic.

"By overturning a discriminatory ban that is fueled by and is fueling prejudice and intolerance, today's decision has drawn an important line in the sand," Amnesty International Europe Director John Dalhuisen said in a statement.

But it's unclear how other towns with burkini bans will respond to Friday's decision. If mayors continue to enforce and enact such decrees, they could face similar legal challenges.

No matter what, battles over the burkini in the court -- and in the court of public opinion -- are far from over.

Friday's decision was an initial ruling by the Council of State while it continues to prepare its more detailed judgment on the legal issues in the case.

Meanwhile, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls has said he supports banning burkinis. And former French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who plans to run again for the nation's top job, has said he would immediately enact a national ban of the swimsuits.

Critics of the bans say they discriminate against the women they claim to protect.

"These bans do nothing to increase public safety, but do a lot to promote public humiliation," Dalhuisen said. "Not only are they in themselves discriminatory, but as we have seen, the enforcement of these bans leads to abuses and the degrading treatment of Muslim women and girls."

Authorities in Nice say the officers were simply exercising their duties. Deputy Mayor Christian Estrosi denounced the photos, saying they put the officers in danger.

"I condemn these unacceptable provocations," he said.

In London, demonstrators created a makeshift beach Thursday outside the French Embassy for a "Wear what you want beach party."

Jenny Dawkins, a Church of England priest, told CNN she joined the protest after seeing a photo of the incident in Nice.

"I think it's a frightening image," she said. "I find it quite chilling to see an image of a woman surrounded by men with guns being told to take her clothes off."

In April 2011, France became the first European country to ban wearing in public the burqa, a full-body covering that includes a mesh over the face, and the niqab, a full-face veil with an opening for the eyes.

And much like the recent burkini bans, opinion in the country is divided between those who see the laws as an infringement on religious freedom, and those who view the Islamic dress as inconsistent with France's rigorously enforced secularism.</s>A top French court on Friday suspended a ban on full-body burkini swim suits that has angered Muslims, feminists and civil liberties campaigners.

 The ruling by the Council of State relates to the Mediterranean resort of Villeneuve-Loubet, one of more than a dozen French towns that have imposed such bans.

 The burkini ban has shone a light on secular France’s long-standing difficulties integrating its Muslim population and dealing with the aftermath of a series of Islamist attacks.

 The court said in a statement the decree to ban burkinis in Villeneuve-Loubet ‘seriously, and clearly illegally, breached the fundamental freedoms to come and go, the freedom of beliefs and individual freedom.’

 The lawyer representing the League of Human Rights campaign group which had challenged the ban in Villeneuve-Loubet told reporters the ruling meant all town halls would need to reverse their bans. The group argued the bans contravened civil liberties.

 But one mayor in Corsica said he would not suspend his own ban, showing that the ruling will not put a quick end to the heated controversy that has already filtered into early campaigning for the 2017 presidential election.

 ‘There’s a lot of tension here and I won’t withdraw my decree,’ Sisco mayor Ange-Pierre Vivoni told BFM TV.

 The issue has also made French cultural identity a hot-button issue along with security in political debates ahead of next April’s presidential election.

 Prime minister Manuel Valls robustly defended the burkini ban on Thursday while some ministers criticised it, exposing divisions within the government as campaigning begins.

 Former president Nicolas Sarkozy said on Thursday he would impose a nationwide ban on burkinis if elected as he seeks to position himself as a strong defender of French values and tough on immigration.

 ‘This is a slap for the prime minister and a kick up the backside for Sarkozy,’ Abdallah Zekri, secretary general of the French Muslim Council said of the ruling. ‘We’re satisfied with this.’

 Socialist Party spokesman Razzy Hammadi told BFM TV he hoped the ruling ‘will put an end to this nasty controversy’.</s>Activists protest outside the French embassy during, the "wear what you want beach party" in London on Thursday. The protest is against the French authorities clampdown on Muslim women wearing burkinis on the beach.

France's highest administrative court on Friday suspended a ban on full-body burkini swimsuits that has outraged Muslims and opened divisions within the government, pending a definitive ruling, the court said in a statement.

The Conseil d'Etat gave the ruling following a request from the League of Human Rights to overturn the burkini ban in the Mediterranean town of Villeneuve-Loubet on the grounds it contravenes civil liberties.

Under the French legal system, temporary decisions can be handed down before the court takes more time to prepare a judgement on the underlying legality of the case.</s>France’s top administrative court has overturned a town burkini ban amid shock and anger worldwide after some Muslim women were ordered to remove body-concealing garments on French Riviera beaches.

The ruling by the Council of State specifically concerns a ban in the Riviera town of Villeneuve-Loubet.

Under the French legal system, temporary decisions can be handed down before the court takes more time to prepare a judgement on the underlying legality of the case.

The ruling will be binding and will affect at least 30 other coastal towns, mainly in southeast France, that have made similar decrees.

Lawyers for two human rights groups challenged the legality of the ban, saying the orders infringe basic freedoms and that mayors have overstepped their powers by telling women what to wear on beaches.

Mayors had cited concern about public order after deadly Islamic extremist attacks this summer, and many officials have argued that burkinis oppress women.

Lawyer Patrice Spinosi, representing the Human Rights League, told reporters that the decision should set a precedent, and that other mayors should conform to it. He also said women who have already received fines can protest against them based on Friday’s decision.

Images of uniformed police appearing to require a woman to take off her tunic in Nice, and media accounts of similar incidents, have elicited shock and anger online this week. Some fear that burkini bans in several French towns, based on a strict application of French secularism policies, are worsening religious tensions.

The mayor of Sisco, in northern Corsica, said he will not lift his ban on the burkini despite the ruling.

Ange-Pierre Vivoni had banned the burkini after an August 13th clash on a beach in Sisco. He told BFM-TV: “Here the tension is very, very, very strong and I won’t withdraw it.”

He conceded he does not know whether a woman was actually wearing a burkini the day a clash occurred that set a group of sunbathers of North African origin, from another town, against villagers from Sisco.

It took days to untangle the events leading to the violence that many immediately assumed was over a burkini.

Divisions have emerged in President Francois Hollande’s government over the bans, and protests have been held in London and Berlin by those defending women’s right to wear what they want on the beach. Critics of the local decrees have said the orders are too vague, prompting local police officials to fine even women wearing the traditional Islamic headscarf and the hijab, but not burkinis.
The France Conseil d'État suspends Villeneuve-Loubet commune's ban on full-body burkini swimsuits.