French court finally lifts 'burkini' ban in Riviera resort

A Nice court finally suspended the burkini ban on Thursday after authorities in the French Riviera resort had defied a ruling by the country's highest administrative court.

Judges in Nice said the 14 July attack on the French Riviera city gave insufficient grounds to justify such a ban.

The decision Thursday follows last week's ruling by France's highest administrative court to suspend the bans introduced by around 30 towns, mainly in the sun-drenched southeast.

Nice and several other towns had ignored the ruling and kept their bans in place in the midst of a raging debate over religious clothing in secular France.

Nice was one of the first French towns to ban the all-body swimsuit this summer, with city authorities claiming there was a risk to public order from wearing the garment after an attacker in a truck ploughed into crowds on the city's waterfront, killing 86 people.

But the city's administrative court ruled last Thursday: "In the absence of such risks, the emotions and the concerns resulting from terrorist attacks, and especially from the attack on July 14, are insufficient grounds to legally justify the contested ban."

The court also found that burkinis posed no risk to "hygiene, decency or safety when swimming".

The emotive issue of the burkini was further inflamed last week when photographs taken on a beach in Nice showed police surrounding a woman in a headscarf and a long-sleeved top.

Nice authorities denied the woman had been forced to remove clothing. They told AFP she was showing police the swimsuit she was wearing under her top, over a pair of leggings, when the picture was taken.

At least 30 fines have been issued in Nice since the burkini ban was introduced.

France's Human Rights League and an anti-Islamophobia group challenged the ban.

The chief lawyer for the city authorities had argued on Wednesday that the burkinis did pose a risk of public disorder.

She said the city was "almost on the brink of civil war".

This article is available in French on Middle East Eye French edition.