Burkini clash sets tone for France’s presidential campaign

“However, Muslims must continue to engage with us over gender equality, the inviolate nature of the principles of the French Republic, and tolerance in order to live together in peace”, he said, noting that in overruling the ban, the court had “stated the law”.

The lawyer, Patrice Spinosi, says that if the mayors refuse to do so after Friday’s ruling by the Council of State, he will systematically take each case to court.

France’s Council of State ruled last week that the ban carried a “serious and manifestly illegal infringement of fundamental freedoms such as the freedom to come and go, freedom of conscience and personal freedom”.

It says local authorities can only restrict individual liberties if wearing the Islamic swimsuit is a “proven risk” to public order.

While the decision of the French courts today only applies to one town so far, many expect the precedent to be extended to other cities now enforcing the ban.

France’s highest administrative court, has just suspended the controversial ban on the burkini by a French Riviera town after it was challenged by rights groups.

Mr Luca, also an MP, said that now only a law can now stop troubles since mayors cannot do so. He suggested he would take action when Parliament returns from its summer leave – but did not say what kind of law he would seek.

Technically, other local bans are still in effect until mayors revoke them or groups contest them in courts.

He then said “it’s about respecting the dignity of people; it’s about respecting the dignity of women”. “We reject this vision of France”.

The mayor of the French town whose burkini ban was suspended by the Council of State, says the ruling will “heighten passions and tensions”.

“This victory has a strong symbolic resonance that will put an end to the onslaught of stigmatising and Draconian political statements”, the group added.

Still, one mayor on the French Mediterranean island of Corsica has already vowed to keep the ban in place.

Ange-Pierre Vivoni brought in the rule after a fight on a beach originally thought to have been sparked by the swimwear, which covers the body and hair.

He conceded he doesn’t know whether a woman was actually wearing a burkini the day a clash occurred that set a group of sunbathers of North African origin, from another town, against villagers from Sisco.

In Cannes, which was the first city to announce the prohibition, the mayor specifically alluded to the recent attacks by Isis supporters in Nice and Normandy.

It is a whole other question where these bans stand in light of women’s rights and France’s claims to secularism.

Muslim advocates, while welcoming the decision to overturn the ban in Villeneuve-Loubet, expressed their concern that the Islamophobia that prompted the ban will emerge in other forms.

The burkini issue has filtered into early campaigning for the 2017 presidential election and early reaction to the ruling showed that supporters of the ban, who include ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy, would not let it go.