“We will colonize you with your democratic laws.” — Yusuf al-Qaradawi, Egyptian Islamic cleric and chairman of the International Union of Muslim Scholars.

“Beaches, like any public space, must be protected from religious claims. The burkini is an anti-social political project aimed in particular at subjugating women… It is not compatible with the values ​​of France and the Republic. Faced with such provocations, the Republic must defend itself.” — French Prime Minister Manuel Valls.

According to the mayor of Villeneuve-Loubet, the high court’s ruling against burkini bans, “far from appeasing [Muslims], will instead increase passions and tensions.”

“Beaches are equated with streets, where the wearing of ostentatious religious symbols is also rejected by two-thirds of the French.” — Jérôme Fourquet, director of the French Institute of Public Opinion (Ifop).

The French city of Nice has lifted a controversial ban on Muslim burkinis after a court ruled such prohibitions illegal. Bans on the full-body swimsuits have also been annulled in Cannes, Fréjus, Roquebrune and Villeneuve-Loubet, but they remain in place in at least 25 other French coastal towns.

The row over burkinis — a neologism blending burka and bikini — has reignited a long-running debate over Islamic dress codes in France and other secular European states (see Appendix below).

On August 26, the Council of State, France’s highest administrative court, ruled that municipal authorities in Villeneuve-Loubet, a seaside town on the French Riviera, did not have the right to ban burkinis. The court found that the ban — which was issued after the jihadist attack in Nice on July 14, in which 86 people were killed — was “a serious and manifestly illegal attack on fundamental freedoms, including the freedom of movement and the freedom of conscience.” The judges ruled that local authorities could only restrict individual liberties if there was a “demonstrated risk” to public order. There was, they said, no evidence of such a risk.

Although the ruling applied only to the ban in Villeneuve-Loubet, observers said the ruling would set a legal precedent for the 30 other cities and towns which have also implemented bans on burkinis.

The high court decision overturned a lower court ruling, issued August 22, which said the burkini ban was “necessary, appropriate, and proportionate” to ensure public order.

The case was brought by the Collective against Islamophobia in France (CCIF) and the Human Rights League (LDH). The two groups have vowed to file lawsuits against any municipality with a burkini ban, which they say violates the religious freedom of Muslims in France.

Patrice Spinosi, a lawyer for the LDH, said that in the absence of a demonstrated threat to public order, the high court “has ruled and has shown that mayors do not have the right to set limits on wearing religious signs in public spaces. It is contrary to the freedom of religion, which is a fundamental freedom.”

By contrast, the ban’s proponents — from across the political spectrum — argue that burkinis are political, not religious, garments.

Writing for Le Figaro, French commentator Yves Thréard warned:

“The worst case scenario would be that the debate drags on and strays into considerations totally foreign to this outrageous outfit. Secularism and religion are irrelevant here. The burkini is not a Koranic prescription, but another manifestation of political Islam, militant, destructive, seeking to question our way of life, our culture, our civilization. Veils in schools, street prayers, halal school menus, sexual apartheid in swimming pools, hospitals, driving schools, niqab, burqa… for thirty years this infiltration has been undermining our society, seeking to destabilize. It’s time to slam the door in its face. Youssef al-Qaradawi, the famous Egyptian preacher, formerly a lecturer in France, warned: ‘We will colonize you with your democratic laws.’ Through our indifference as well as our naïveté, we have long been complicit in this deadly and nasty business.”

According to French Prime Minister Manuel Valls, burkinis are “the affirmation of political Islam in the public space.” In an interview with La Provence, Valls, a Socialist, said:

“I support those who issued the bans… Beaches, like any public space, must be protected from religious claims. The burkini is an anti-social political project aimed in particular at subjugating women. Behind the burkini lies the idea that women, by nature, are harlots, impure, and that they should be completely covered. It is not compatible with the values ​​of France and the Republic. Faced with such provocations, the Republic must defend itself.”

Laurence Rossignol, the Socialist Minister for the Families, Children and Women’s Rights, also said she supported bans on burkinis. In an interview with Le Parisien, she said:

“The burkini is not some new line of swimwear. It is the beach version of the burka and it has the same logic: to hide women’s bodies in order to better control them. Behind this there is a deeply archaic vision of the place of women in society. There is the idea that, by nature, women are impure and immoral and should therefore hide their body and disappear from the public space.

“The burkini agitates so much because of its collective political dimension. It does not only concern the women who wear it. The burkini is the symbol of a political project that is hostile to diversity and empowerment.”

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who recently announced that he will be a candidate in the 2017 presidential elections, said that if elected he would “change the constitution” and press for a nationwide ban on burkinis. At a campaign rally on August 26, Sarkozy, a conservative, said:

“I will be the president who re-establishes the authority of the state. I want to be the president who guarantees the safety of France and of every French person…

“I refuse to let the burkini impose itself in French beaches and swimming pools…there must be a law to ban it throughout the Republic’s territory. Our identity is under threat when we accept an immigration policy that makes no sense.”

In an interview with Le Figaro, Sarkozy elaborated:

“Wearing the burkini is a militant political act, a provocation. The women who wear them are testing the resistance of the French Republic. If we do not put an end to this, there is a risk that in ten years, young Muslim girls who do not want to wear the burkini or the veil will be stigmatized and pressured into doing so.”

Henri Leroy, the mayor of Mandelieu-La-Napoule, one of the first French towns to ban the burkini, said Muslim residents should be reminded that “they are French first and of Muslim confession second.” He added: “Our Republic has traditions and customs that need to be respected.”

The conservative mayor of Cannes, David Lisnard, said the burkini is a “uniform that is the symbol of Islamic extremism.” City manager Thierry Migoule said the burkini is an “ostentatious outfit that signals allegiance to terrorist movements that have declared war on us.”

The mayor of Fréjus, David Rachline, wrote that the high court’s ruling was a “victory for radical Islam, for political Islam, which is advancing in our country.”

Lionnel Luca, the conservative mayor of Villeneuve-Loubet, said the burkini ban was needed to “counter the creeping Islamization that is progressing in our country.” He added that the high court’s ruling, “far from appeasing [Muslims], will instead increase passions and tensions.”

Ange-Pierre Vivoni, the Socialist mayor of the Corsican town of Sisco, imposed a ban on burkinis “to protect the population” following a Muslim rampage that occurred on August 14, when a tourist took a photograph of several burkini-clad women swimming in a creek. More than 400 people eventually joined the brawl, in which local Corsicans clashed with migrants from North Africa. The following day, more than 500 Corsicans marched through the town shouting “To arms! This is our home!”

Opinion polls show broad public support for bans on burkinis. According to an Ifop poll published by Le Figaro on August 25, 64% of people in France are opposed to the burkini on beaches; only 6% support it. Ifop director Jérôme Fourquet said: “The results are similar to those we measured in April about the veil and headscarf on public streets (63% opposed). Beaches are equated with streets, where the wearing of ostentatious religious symbols is also rejected by two-thirds of the French.”

Reprinted with author’s permission from Gatestone Institute