As Twitchy reported last week, the mayor of Cannes took the controversial step of banning “burqinis” and other swimwear that “ostentatiously displays religious affiliation,” insisting that tourists respect France’s secular traditions.
Over the weekend that followed, more than 100 police officers were deployed to the French island of Corsica to break up fights between locals and families of North African origin, leading that city’s mayor on Monday to impose a ban on the burqini, making him the third in the country to do so.
Third French burqini ban following clashes in Corsica allegedly sparked by a row over the full-body swimsuit https://t.co/42FrKmFC3t
— AFP news agency (@AFP) August 15, 2016
Three cars were set alight after the rivals, some of whom were armed with hatchets, hurled stones and bottles https://t.co/IvEDhFv9gn
— Hindustan Times (@htTweets) August 16, 2016
AFP reports that five people, including a pregnant woman, were injured in the brawl, which allegedly began over a group of teenage boys taking photos of women wearing the full-body bathing suits. Three cars were set on fire, and police report that some were armed with hatchets and threw rocks and bottles during the skirmish.
On Saturday, a court backed up the mayor of Cannes, ruling that the garment could be seen as a provocation after the Bastille Day terrorist attack in Nice that killed 85 people and injured more than 300.
On Monday, French Ambassador to the United States Gérard Araud defended the ban, which has also been backed by France’s minister of women’s rights.
A burqa is not a neutral attire. It conveys an conception of the woman as a object of lust, a subject and not an agent of history.
— Gérard Araud (@GerardAraud) August 15, 2016
Villeneuve-Loubet Mayor Lionnel Luca also declared a ban on the burqini, claiming it is unhygienic to swim fully dressed.
Of course, some claim Islamophobia is the real reason behind the ban on ostentatiously religious swimwear … while others argue that the existence of the burqa in the first place is the true display of intolerance.
France's burqini ban is meant to project secularism, but instead convies deep intolerance: https://t.co/VAJYegCrZg pic.twitter.com/ZWuBRoVNGf
— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) August 15, 2016
I'm from Canada and I find this disgusting. The French seem like an intolerant group of people.
— hellobitchlasagna (@iamJMe_) August 15, 2016
you cant force secularism upon everyone that's like ISIS chopping off your head if your a Christian. #nodifference
— Max Shenk (@themaxshenk) August 15, 2016
Then WHY are the rest of the women around the world expected to cover their heads while in THEIR country? You must be a man.
— BlueViews ?? (@blueviewdc) August 15, 2016
If Christianity tried to aggressively display religious symbolism in public places like Islam, TDB would hav a cow
— Jimmy Cartar (@JimmyCartar1) August 15, 2016
their religion is intolerant. Women can't even decide what they want to wear in fear of being beaten. It's just clothes!!
— kasone (@koepkef) August 16, 2016
How about starting with a ban on bringing your hatchet to the beach and going from there?
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