Masked anti-Israel protesters at Columbia University demonstrate as students check in for first day of classes
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Small Riviera town of Villeneuve-Loubet had instituted a ban on the head-to-foot swimsuits.
France’s highest administrative court on Friday suspended a local ban on wearing head-to-foot burkini swimsuits, setting a precedent in a highly charged national debate over Muslim clothing and French identity. The Conseil d’Etat suspended a municipal order instituting a burkini ban in Villeneuve-Loubet, a small town on the French Riviera between Nice and Cannes, after an appeal from rights groups. Judges ruled that the mayor’s order violated fundamental freedoms. The burkini—a portmanteau of burqa and bikini—has become a lightning rod for anxieties over identity and France’s secular republican model in the wake of terror attacks. Burkini critics say the swimwear is a provocative symbol and permitting it on beaches accords radical Islamism a creeping influence on French society. Others say the French Republic’s core notion of liberty permits people to dress as they choose. “Without exceeding his police powers, the mayor could not decree measures that ban access to a beach and swimming when such measures are not based on proven risks to public order, or reasons of hygiene or decency,” the Conseil d’Etat said. “This decision is more likely to stoke tensions than calm them,” said Villeneuve-Loubet Mayor Lionnel Luca, who is also a member of parliament. He added that conservative lawmakers planned to propose new legislation to circumvent the administrative court’s ruling.
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