- "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.
No comments:
Post a Comment