This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/17/french-pm-supports-local-bans-burkinis

The article has changed 7 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 0 Version 1
French PM supports local bans on burkinis French PM supports local bans on burkinis
(35 minutes later)
The French prime minister has expressed support for local bans on burkinis, saying the swimwear is based on the “enslavement of women” and therefore incompatible with French values. Political rows over Muslim women’s clothing have weighed on French politics for more than a decade — from the ban on headscarves in state schools to Nicolas Sarkozy’s outlawing of the niqab, or full-face veil, in all public spaces. The current and growing controversy over mayors banning burkinis on beaches has proved one of the most divisive.
The burkini, a wetsuit-like garment designed for Muslim women, covers the torso, limbs and head. The Socialist prime minister, Manuel Valls, broke his silence on Wednesday to say he understood and supported the handful of seaside town mayors who have banned burkinis, or full-body swimsuits.
Three French Mediterranean towns have banned the garment on beaches this summer, citing security concerns. He said wearing a burkini was “not compatible with the values of the French Republic,” but refused to pass a nationwide law banning it. He hinted at the importance of not “playing politics” with such issues, but his support for the mayors was greeted with joy by the right and sparked criticism from some in his Socialist party.
Manuel Valls said in an interview published on Wednesday in the La Provence newspaper that the swimwear represented a provocation and an archaic vision that women are “immodest, impure and that they should therefore be totally covered. That is not compatible with the values of France. “In the face of provocation, the nation must defend itself,” Valls told the La Provence newspaper.
“In the face of provocation, the nation must defend itself,” Valls said. With presidential and parliamentary elections due next year, politicians are acutely aware of the tension and fear running high in France following the death of more than 230 people in terrorist attacks in the past 19 months.
The government’s women’s affairs minister, Laurence Rossignol, took a similar stance. Last month in Nice, 85 people were killed when a Tunisian delivery driver drove at crowds watching Bastille day fireworks. Less than two weeks later, two attackers who proclaimed allegiance to Islamic State a killed a priest in his church in Normandy. July’s attacks have seen the right push its political agenda firmly onto issues of terrorism, security and the place of Islam in French society.
“The burkini is … a particular vision particular of the place of the woman. It cannot be considered only as a question of fashion or individual liberty,” Rossignol said on Europe-1 radio. The day after the Normandy church attack, the mayor of the French Riviera town of Cannes, from Nicolas Sarkozy’s rightwing Les Républicains party, decided to ban burkinis from public beaches in the name of public order and French secularism. Thierry Migoule, the head of municipal services for the town, told Agence France-Presse the ban was on “ostentatious clothing which refers to an allegiance to terrorist movements which are at war with us”.
Valls said, however, that he was not in favour of a national law against burkinis. The Cannes burkini ban only became public in recent days and immediately a handful of other seaside towns across the country followed suit. Since the Cannes beach ban came in to force, police have stopped 10 women in burkinis. Six left the beach, and four were fined €38 (£33).
“I support those who have taken measures. They are motivated by the will to encourage social unity,” he told La Provence. “I don’t think we should legislate the issue. General rules on clothing restrictions cannot be a solution.” Burkinis are not a common sight on French beaches, just as niqabs were extremely rare in France when Sarkozy banned themin 2011. In the upmarket northern resort of Le Touquet, the local rightwing mayor and MP Daniel Fasquelle, a close ally of Sarkozy’s, is to implement a burkini ban in the coming days “to fight against religious proselytising”. He told AFP: “There are no burkinis in Le Touquet at the moment, but I don’t want the town hall to be caught off-guard if we are affected by this phenomenon.”
France has some of the toughest legislation on headscarves in Europe, including a law passed in 2004 on religious symbols that bans girls from wearing the hijab in state schools, but no current laws ban anyone from wearing a headscarf or full-body bikini at a public beach. Wearing a burkini remains legal in France as a whole. At the heart of the burkini row is the French principle of secularism, or laïcité, and whether it is being twisted for political gain. The French republic is built on a strict separation of church and state, and laïcité is 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.
The former president Nicolas Sarkozy banned the niqab or full-face veil in all public spaces in 2011 as part of a law against anyone covering their face in public. The burkini, which covers the head and body for swimming while leaving the face uncovered, does not contravene that law. Since the terrorist attack on the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo last year, however, some French academics and historians have warned that politicians are deliberately distorting the principle of laïcité and using it to stigmatise Islam.
Valls called for calm in Corsica, where clashes between villagers and three Muslim families broke out over the weekend. Jean Baubérot, a historian and sociologist of French secularism, told France Inter radio the burkini bans seemed “extremely irrational”. He said: “It’s a counter-productive measure to bother these women who have nothing to do with the terrorists and to give the impression of stigmatising a whole group of people who are also under threat from terrorism, because there were women wearing headscarves who were also killed in the attack on Nice.”
Skirmishes at a beach in the commune of Sisco left four people injured and resulted in riot police being brought in to stop a crowd of 200 Corsicans marching into a housing estate with a high population of people of North African origin, shouting “this is our home”. He said Valls was playing with fire by supporting the hard right’s exaggerated interpretation of secularism that pushed French identity in an authoritarian way, rather than viewing it simply as the separation of church and state, and the equality for all beliefs in a neutral state.
A police investigation is under way to determine the cause of the brawl. There has been no confirmation from police or the local prosecutor’s office as to whether anyone on the beach was wearing a burkini at the time of the incident. Benoît Hamon, the former Socialist minister who quit President François Hollande’s government in 2014, accusing it of betraying leftwing policy, criticised the burkini bans as he announced his decision to run in the left’s primary race for a presidential candidate. He said: “Islam must be treated like a religion like any other” and slammed “inopportune declarations by politicians who want to make political capital on the question of Islam.”
Associated Press contributed to this report The question remains as to whether the decrees banning burkinis, which mayors can issue for only a limited period, conform with French law. France has some of the toughest legislation on headscarves in Europe, including a ban on niqabs on the basis that they hide a person’s identity. Wearing a burkini, which covers the hair and body for swimming while leaving the face uncovered, does not contravene French law and remains legal.
The Collective against Islamophobia in France (CCIF) has filed a complaint against the bans with France’s highest administrative court, the Conseil d’Etat, which is expected rule in the coming days. Marwan Muhammad, a CCIF spokesman, said the bans restricted fundamental liberties and discriminated against Muslim women. “This summer we are witnessing a hysterical political Islamophobia that pits citizens against one another,” he said.
The burkini row is only the start of what promises to be a tense electoral season focussing on national identity issues and Islam’s place in France. Earlier this year, when Valls called for a ban on the Muslim headscarf at universities, Hollande slapped him down and said it would not happen.
Sarkozy, who will launch his bid to become the right’s presidential candidate next week, has proposed banning the headscarf at universities and in private companies. He also wants to ban pork-free options in school canteens for Muslim and Jewish children.