Thread: France Defends Burkini Ban On Tense Post-Attack Beaches

France Defends Burkini Ban On Tense Post-Attack Beaches

By Reuters On 08/16/16 AT 6:55 AM



The French government has defended municipal bans on body-covering Muslim burkini swimwear but called on mayors to try and cool tensions between communities.

Three Mediterranean towns - Cannes, Villeneuve-Loubet and Sisco on the island of Corsica - have banned the burkini, and Le Touquet on the Atlantic coast is planning to do the same.

The mainly conservative mayors who have imposed the ban say the garment, which leaves only the face, hands and feet exposed, defies French laws on secularism.

The burkini debate is particularly sensitive in France given deadly attacks by Islamist militants, including bombings and shootings in Paris which killed 130 people last November, which have raised tensions between communities and made people wary of public places.

The socialist government's minister for women's rights, Laurence Rossignol, said municipal bans on the burkini should not be seen in the context of terrorism but she supported the bans.

"The burkini is not some new line of swimwear, it is the beach version of the burqa and it has the same logic: hide women's bodies in order to better control them," Rossignol told French daily Le Parisien in an interview.

France, which has the largest Muslim minority in Europe, estimated at 5 million, in 2010 introduced a ban on full-face niqab and burqa veils in public.
Rossignol said the burkini had sparked tensions on French beaches because of its political dimension.

"It is not just the business of those women who wear it, because it is the symbol of a political project that is hostile to diversity and women's emancipation," she said.

On Saturday, a brawl broke out between Muslim families and a group of young Corsicans in Sisco after a tourist took pictures of women bathing in burkini. The mayor banned burkinis on Monday.

Apart from the Paris attacks, a Tunisian deliberately drove a truck into crowds in Nice on July 14, killing 85 people, and a Roman Catholic priest had his throat cut in church by two French Muslims.

The string of attacks have made many people jumpy. On Sunday, 41 people were injured in a stampede in the Riviera town of Juan-les-Pins when holiday makers mistook the sound of firecrackers for gunfire.

Villeneuve-Loubet mayor Lionnel Luca, member of the hardline Droite Populaire faction of the conservative Les Republicains party, said the burkini was an ideological provocation.

"Since the Nice attack, the population is particularly sensitive," he told Le Parisien.

He said the burkini raised hygiene issues and could make rescue at sea more difficult.

The Collective against Islamophobia in France (CCIF) on Tuesday filed a complaint against the bans with the Conseil d'Etat, France's highest administrative court, which is expected to hand down a ruling in the coming days.

CCIF spokesman Marwan Muhammad 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.

http://www.ibtimes.com/france-defend...eaches-2402445

French Prime Minister Supports Banning the Muslim Burkini, Supposedly to Free Women From ‘Enslavement’


A surfer wearing a burkini in Sydney, Australia. Photo: Matt King/Getty Images

August 17, 2016 3:29 p.m.

On Wednesday, French prime minister Manuel Valls supported local mayors who recently banned the burkini, describing the full-body swimsuit worn by some Muslim women as an unpatriotic garment based "on the enslavement of women."

He spoke with the newspaper La Provence after three French cities along the Mediterranean Coast banned the burkini in the past week. Three more towns are expected to join them.

Prime Minister Valls said the burkini is "not compatible with the values of France and the Republic." He said he wouldn't support a national law forbidding the swimsuit, but that beachwear shouldn't be associated with religion and politics. "The burkini is not a new range of swimwear, a fashion," he told La Provence, according to The Independent. "It is the expression of a political project, a counter-society, based notably on the enslavement of women."

Considered reactionary, the local burkini bans reflect growing fears of Islamic extremism in France amid the country's recent terror attacks — in Normandy, where two ISIS supporters murdered a Catholic priest, and in Nice, where 85 people were killed on Bastille Day.

The mayor of Cannes first banned the burkini from the city's beaches last week, calling the swimsuit “the uniform of extremist Islamism, not of the Muslim religion” and disrespectful of "good morals and secularism." The village Villeneuve-Loubet soon followed "for hygienic reasons," the mayor said (um, what?), adding that "In France, one does not come to the beach dressed to display one’s religious convictions, especially as they are false convictions that the religion does not demand."

Sisco, on the island of Corsica, became the third town to join them on Monday, immediately following a violent beach brawl between local teens and three Muslim families the day before. In a country that already enacted a "burqa ban" forbidding full-face veils, the seaside resort towns Leucate, Oye-Plage, and Le Touquet are expected to also ban the burkini. As the Washington Post's Kathleen Parker wrote, some "feminists and the 'enlightened' French see the burkini as a visual face-slap to women’s egalité." But others, including Muslim and anti-discrimination groups, have harshly criticized the measures, insisting that women should be free to dress themselves.

Feiza Ben Mohamed, a spokeswoman for the Southern Federation of Muslims, responded to the Cannes burkini ban last week, telling the Local: "The mayor talks about protecting public order, which means he thinks the presence of a Muslim woman on a beach will cause trouble. He also invokes the fight against terrorism, so he is basically saying a Muslim woman who wears a burkini is a terrorist."

http://nymag.com/thecut/2016/08/fren...rkini-ban.html

10 Muslim women wearing burkinis have been apprehended by French police in Cannes

• Geert De Clercq, Reuters

• 8h

In this Aug.4 2016 file photo made from video, Nissrine Samali, 20, gets into the sea wearing traditional Islamic dress, in Marseille, southern France. The French resort of Cannes has banned full-body, head-covering swimsuits worn by some Muslim women from its beaches, citing security concerns.

Four women fined 38 euros for wearing burkini

* Three more seaside towns plan burkini bans

* PM Valls says no need for countrywide ban PARIS, Aug 17 (Reuters) - Ten Muslim women wearing burkinis to the beach have been apprehended by police in the southern French city of Cannes in the three weeks since it imposed a temporary ban on the full body swimsuit, a local official said.

Arguing that the burkini defies French laws on secularism, Cannes is one of three cities in France to have banned the garment amid tensions after an Islamist militant attack in nearby Nice killed 85 people on Bastille Day on July 14.

The moves have sparked an intense public debate, with Muslim groups calling them unconstitutional, divisive and Islamophobic. The Conseil d'Etat, France's highest administrative court, will rule on the legality of the burkini bans in coming days.

In an interview with daily La Provence, Prime Minister Manuel Valls backed the municipal bans but said he saw no need for nationwide legislation. The women's rights minister has also backed the ban.

The burkini -- a conflation of the burqa and bikini -- is designed for Muslims who believe that Islam requires women to conceal everything except the face, hands and feet from all men who are not their husbands or unmarriageable kin.

A Cannes townhall spokeswoman told Reuters on Wednesday that since the burkini ban was put in place on July 28, 10 burkini-wearing women have been controlled by police. Six left the beach, four were fined 38 euros ($43), she said.

Police cannot oblige women to leave the beaches for wearing a burkini, and the same person can only be fined once a day. The ban will end on Aug. 31.

"Following the attacks, the atmosphere is very tense and the burkini is seen as an ostentatious display that can threaten public order, that is why we took the measure," she said.

French citizens are on edge following a string of deadly attacks claimed by Islamic State, including attacks in Paris in November 2015 when 130 people were killed and the July 14 attack in Nice in which 85 people died when a militant plowed a truck into a crowd.

Abdallah Zekri, head of the National Observatory against Islamophobia told BFM television that some French politicians were using the burkini debate to stigmatize Islam.

"It is terrible to see that the prime minister stokes the fire rather than trying to put it out," Zekri said.

The Cannes official said that burkinis first appeared on Cannes beaches last year and that their number was growing. The mayors of Le Touquet and Oye-Plage on the Atlantic coast and Leucate on the Mediterranean have also announced plans to ban the burkini.

The mayor of Le Touquet, Daniel Fasquelle, said he had not seen burkinis on his beaches but that he would impose a ban to send a message that "people with that kind of outfit are not welcome here."
In neighboring Italy, Interior Minister Angelino Alfano said there would be no burkini ban, describing it as counter-productive.

In an interview with Corriere della Sera daily, Alfano said the best way to counter the threat of Islamist militancy was to expel radicals, adding that he wanted all Italy's imams to be trained in the country to ensure they worked within clear cultural norms.

http://www.businessinsider.com/musli...edium=referral

French police apprehend 10 Muslim women in Cannes for wearing banned burkinis

REUTERS — UPDATED ABOUT 8 HOURS AGO

A Muslim woman wears a burkini on a beach in Marseille, France. —Reuters

PARIS: Ten Muslim women wearing burkinis to the beach have been apprehended by police in the southern French city of Cannes in the three weeks since it imposed a temporary ban on the full body swimsuit, a local official said.

Arguing that the burkini defies French laws on secularism, Cannes is one of three towns in France to have banned the garment amid tensions after a militant attack in nearby Nice killed 85 people on Bastille Day on July 14.

The moves have sparked an intense public debate, with Muslim groups calling them unconstitutional, divisive and Islamophobic. The Conseil d'Etat, France's highest administrative court, will rule on the legality of burkini bans in coming days.

In an interview with daily La Provence, Prime Minister Manuel Valls backed the municipal bans, but said he saw no need for nationwide legislation. The women's rights minister has also backed the ban.

In neighbouring Italy, the interior minister said Rome would not be following the French example, arguing a curb might be provocative and even trigger further attacks.

“It does not seem to me that the French model has worked for the best,” Angelino Alfano told Corriere della Sera newspaper.

The burkini is a conflation of the burqa and bikini.

A Cannes townhall spokeswoman told Reuters on Wednesday that since the burkini ban was put in place on July 28, 10 burkini-wearing women have been controlled by police. Six left the beach, four were fined $43, she said.

Police cannot oblige women to leave the beaches for wearing a burkini, and the same person can only be fined once a day. The ban will end on Aug. 31.

“Following the attacks, the atmosphere is very tense and the burkini is seen as an ostentatious display that can threaten public order, that is why we took the measure,” she said.

French citizens are on edge following a string of deadly assaults claimed by Islamic State, including attacks in Paris in November 2015 when 130 people were killed and the July 14 attack in Nice, when a militant ploughed a truck into a crowd.

Abdallah Zekri, head of the National Observatory against Islamophobia, told BFM television that some French politicians were using the burkini debate to stigmatize Islam.

“It is terrible to see that the prime minister stokes the fire rather than trying to put it out,” Zekri said.

The Cannes official said burkinis first appeared on local beaches last year and that their number was growing. The mayors of Le Touquet and Oye-Plage on the Atlantic coast and Leucate on the Mediterranean have also announced plans to ban the burkini.

The Italian interior minister said the best way to counter the threat of militancy was to expel radicals, adding that he wanted all Italy's imams to be trained in the country to ensure they worked within clear cultural norms.

Italy has expelled 109 suspected radicals since last year, including nine imams. “We need to shine a light on all places of worship, in full respect of the rules and to avoid mini-mosques in garages,” Alfano said.

French police apprehend 10 Muslim women in Cannes for wearing banned burkinis

Love the ban on burkinis - you are in FRANCE JERKS, WAKE UP! Take that back to your screwed up archaic countries - WE WILL NOT TOLERATE THAT! France tell it like it is - in the west we do not go backward - case closed.

Perhaps it is the muslims that should go back & be in their own countries if that is all of the modern world they can absorb. BURKINIS = LUDICROUS. OH YEAH!

The Burkini Battle: What Really Happened in Corsica

After investigating, the French prosecutor revealed what really happened on the beach -- and it's much worse than a a fight about a burkini.

BY LESLIE SHAW Thu, August 18, 2016

Local Corsicans at a demonstration against the Muslims who attacked locals on the beach over the
weekend. (Photo: video screenshot)

Nicolas Bessone, prosecutor of Bastia, Corsica, gave a press conference on Wednesday, August 17, in which he presented the result of the four-day police investigation into the fight at Sisco beach on Saturday 13 August.

Three Muslim brothers from the Lupino neighbourhood in Bastia and two villagers from Sisco had been arrested on Wednesday and held in detention, where they were interrogated about the incident.

He insisted that the protagonists were neither Islamic radicals nor racists and described the fight as a territorial battle between a Muslim family from Lupino and the Sisco villagers.

According to Mr. Bessone, three Muslim brothers arrived on the beach on Saturday with their female companions and attempted to "privatize" it. The Muslim women, contrary to initial press reports, were not wearing burkinis but were swimming in full Islamic dress.

The first incidents broke out early in the day when the Muslims put up a no entry sign to keep people from coming on to the beach. A couple already on the beach were forced to leave, as were two young boys canoeing in the creek. Tourists, including a Belgian who took a photograph and local passers-by who got too close were insulted, threatened and pelted with stones.

A group of village teenagers then arrived on the beach as they usually did on a Saturday afternoon. At this point the situation deteriorated and conflicting versions were given to the investigators. One teenager claimed he was hit by one or more of the three Muslim males.

The father of the teenager was informed his son was being molested and when he arrived on the scene he too was beaten. Several witnesses indicated to the police that harpoons and a baseball bat were used in the attack.

Dozens of angry villagers then arrived on the beach and in turn physically attacked the Muslims, before the gendarmes arrived and stopped the fight.

The three Muslim brothers aged around 30 and two villagers, a 50-year-old baker and a 21-year-old municipal employee, were interrogated on Wednesday evening. The two villagers were released and will appear in court on Thursday August 18 with the three Muslims, who were already known to the police, one of them for drug-dealing and resisting arrest.

"All the protagonists deny they hit the others," revealed a police source. The prosecutor concluded that "on the one hand, there was a gangster-style attempt to take over the beach, on the other an overreaction on the part of the villagers." The spin he put on the fight was that it was a simple breach of the peace, comparing it to a brawl caused by 10 Italians "arriving in a village riding Vespa scooters."

On Wednesday evening, around 500 people, including local politicians, assembled outside the Borgo gendarme station to show their support for the two villagers being interrogated.

The prosecutor’s conclusions play down the role of Islamic radicalism in the affair, but the fact that the women were not wearing burkinis but full Islamic dress is immaterial. There was a deliberate attempt by the family to take over a public beach and prevent others from using it through verbal and physical violence. There could not be a clearer demonstration that they are refusing to coexist with the local population and prefer to live apart. Such an attitude can only be driven by religious radicalism and hostility to France.

Meanwhile, the ban on burkinis by four French mayors and others set to follow suit with the backing of Prime Minister Manuel Valls has met with negative reactions from Muslim opinion leaders.

The CCIF (Collective against Islamophobia in France) challenged the decree by David Lisnard, the mayor of Cannes, in court and lost. They have now lodged an appeal with France’s highest court, the Council of State.

The French Human Rights League has issued proceedings at the Administrative Tribunals of the four towns concerned by the ban, seeking to have it overturned.

Activist group SOS Racism also opposes the ban, accusing the mayors of “malevolence towards the Arab-Muslim population.”

The ban has not stopped Muslim women from frequenting the beaches at Cannes sporting burkinis. On Saturday, August 14, a 29 year-old woman was fined by municipal police officers for wearing a burkini, followed by a 32-year-old on Sunday and a 57-year-old on Monday. Six other women swimming in burkinis were not fined but given a formal warning and left the beach “without difficulty.”

Meanwhile, Franco-Algerian businessman and political activist Rachid Nekkaz has offered to pay the $45 fines imposed on women who flout the burkini ban. He made a similar offer after the burkawas banned in 2010, setting up a $1 million fund “for the defense of liberty” and stating that “although I am personally opposed to the wearing of the burka, I believe that in a democracy nobody has the right to prevent a person wearing a garment of their choice as long as the garment does not represent a danger to the freedom of others or national security.”

The Burkini Battle: What Really Happened in Corsica