France’s top court is set to deliver a ruling on the controversial burkini ban after hearing an appeal by the city of Grenoble to allow the bathing suit in public pools.
Grenoble formally allowed women to wear the full-length swimwear in state pools in May, 10 years after a local ban on the burkini was introduced in several French cities. But not without a grim warning from the interior minister that he would work to block the move.
The decision, said minister Gérald Darmanin, was an “unacceptable community provocation, contrary to our values” and went against French laws on secularism. Darmanin was the minister who said Liverpool fans posed a public disorder threat after last month’s chaos at the Champions League final in Paris.
Now, Grenoble has taken the issue to the Council of State. . . .
“Contrary to liberal principles of personal choice and women’s autonomy over their bodies, the French government wants to collectively punish Muslims by banning hijabs and burkinis,” said Sahar Aziz, a law professor and author of The Racial Muslim.
“Claims that such bans protect French laicite disingenuously disregard a French Muslim woman’s right to choose that she does not want to expose her body or hair in public spaces, including swimming pools and beaches – similar to any French woman’s right to choose whether to wear a skirt, pants, shorts, or sleeveless shirt,” Aziz told The Independent.
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