Police in Nice, France are continuing to enforce a controversial burqini ban even though it was deemed illegal last week. France’s top administrative court ruled on Friday that the law was a “serious and clearly illegal violation of fundamental freedoms.” Although the ruling only applied to one town, it was expected to apply to about 30 other nearby beach towns who have been enforcing comparable laws. However, Mayors of some of the beach towns are promising they will continue to fine women who are wearing burqinis, even if that means going back to court.
According to Buzzfeed, after the ruling, “paper notices taped on boards – which had been removed during the week – were put up again warning beachgoers of the ban on ‘beachwear which ostentatiously displays religious affiliation.'” Feiza Ben Mohamed, a spokesperson for Federation of Muslims in the South, told Buzzfeed that two women were “expelled from the beach because of their veils” on Saturday afternoon.
https://twitter.com/aishagani/status/769271576449708033
John Dalhuisen, Amnesty International’s Europe director, told Buzzfeed that burka bans “do nothing to increase public safety but do a lot to promote public humiliation.” Marwan Muhammad, the executive director of the association Collective Contre L’islamophobe En France (CCIF), told BuzzFeed News his group would continue to sue “in every single case” that a town continues to enforce the burqini ban.
(Via Buzzfeed & The Daily Beast)