French Prime Minister supports burkini ban, rules out new legislation

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said on Wednesday he supported the ban issued in several parts of the country against the burkini, but ruled out government legislation on the matter.

Valls said in an interview with La Provence newspaper that general laws dictating clothes are not a solution.

French law bans the niqab (a veil worn by some Muslim women in public, covering all of the face apart from the eyes) in the country’s streets, while the veil and other religious symbols are prohibited in educational centers.

The debate on the burkini (swimsuit for Muslim women that covers the entire body except the face, hands and feet) began earlier this month with the cancellation of a day exclusively for women at a water park near Marseille.

The garment was subsequently banned in Cannes, VilleneuveLoubet, Sisco and Le Touquet.

Valls said he understood the mayors who, during these tense times, were looking to avoid public order problems and he supported their decisions to ban the garment.

For the prime minister, the burkini is an expression of a political and countersociety project founded mainly on the enslavement of women.