PARIS (AP) – France’s Supreme Administrative Court ruled on Tuesday that burqa swimsuits should not be allowed in public swimming pools for religious reasons, arguing that it violates the government’s principle of religious neutrality.
Although worn by only a small number of people in France, burqas from head to toe provoke intense political debate in the country.
Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin hailed the Council of State’s decision as a “victory for secularism”. Some Muslim women have condemned it as unjustly targeted at their faith and bodies and based on outdated misconceptions about Islam.
The city of Grenoble, led by a Green Party mayor, voted last month to allow women to wear burqas in public pools following a campaign by local activists. The city also voted to allow women to swim topless as part of a broader easing of swimsuit rules.
The prefect or senior government official of the Grenoble region blocked the Burkina Faso decision, arguing that it contradicted France’s secular principles.
The Council of State confirmed the prefect’s move on Tuesday, saying in a statement that the vote in Grenoble was “to satisfy a religious demand” and “harm the neutrality of public services”.
The decision was the first under a controversial law backed by President Emmanuel Macron to protect “republican values” from what his government calls a threat of religious extremism.
The rules for dressing in public swimming pools in France are strict, as authorities say they are reasons for hygiene: hats are mandatory, and wide swimsuits or other bulky clothes are usually prohibited. Wet suits and some sunscreens are also not allowed in many pools.
Several other cities allow burqas in public pools. The city of Rennes is among them, but its decision is aimed at loosening the rules for swimsuits, not for religious reasons.
The mayor of Grenoble says women should be able to wear whatever they want and express their religious beliefs in outdoor swimming pools. Opponents of the Burkina Faso – who includes local officials on the far right but also on the left – say swimsuits are women’s oppression and a potential gateway to Islamic radicalism.
Six years ago, the Council of State lifted a local ban on burqas amid shock and anger after some Muslim women were ordered to take off their body-covering clothes on the beaches of the French Riviera.
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For Fatima Bent of the Muslim feminist group Lallab, Tuesday’s decision is a “clear step back” that will further isolate women who cover their heads and bodies in public.
While some Muslim women are forced by male relatives to take cover, she said: “Muslim women are not homogeneous. (French authorities) look at Muslim women through a single prism. ” She accused the rest of the colonial era of “fixing on the bodies of Muslim women by politicians who want to control them”.
Grenoble’s decision to swim topless is not threatened in court.
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