The administrative court in Marseille ruled that a local ban on wearing a burkini violates fundamental rights in a serious and unlawful manner. The ruling came after a confrontation between police and a Muslim woman wearing the religious swimwear, which sparked public debate.
The court struck down a local order issued by the mayor of a town on the French Riviera, which prohibited swimming in a burkini — a full-body swimsuit often worn by Muslim women. The judges found that the order “constitutes a severe and unlawful violation of fundamental rights” and could not be justified by legitimate safety or health concerns.
René-François Carpentier, the mayor of the town, had defended the order on safety grounds, arguing that full-body swimsuits do not provide adequate buoyancy, according to Archimedes’ principle. He claimed that such swimwear increases the risk of drowning, thus posing a danger to swimmers and rescue teams.
France's controversial bikini ban
Issued in June 2024, the ban went largely unnoticed until earlier this month, when an 18-year-old Muslim woman from Marseille was asked to leave the water after being seen wearing a burkini. According to her twin brother, who was with her at the beach, municipal inspectors ordered her to leave the sea. When the family asked what was wrong, the officers informed them that her swimsuit was not permitted.
The brother said the incident led to a heated argument among beachgoers, some of whom supported the family. Police reinforcements were called to the scene and threatened the family with a fine if they did not leave. The young woman was reportedly deeply affected by the experience and later became withdrawn and avoided social interactions, refusing to talk about what had happened.
Human rights organizations criticized the mayor’s use of Archimedes’ principle as a justification for the ban, calling it a thinly veiled excuse for religious discrimination. In response to a petition from the League for Human Rights, the court ruled that local authorities may only ban specific clothing when there is a genuine threat to public order, which the court found to be absent in this case.
The ruling has reignited the ongoing debate in France over religious clothing in public spaces. In recent years, France has banned the wearing of hijabs in public schools (2004) and burqas and niqabs in public spaces (2011), arguing that such garments conflict with the country's secular principles and security concerns.
While human rights advocates hailed the court’s decision, others, like Ange-Pierre Vivoni, the mayor of Sisco in Corsica, who had previously banned burkinis following a brawl, expressed frustration. He accused the mayor of Le Rove of giving in to extremists and claimed he was merely trying to avoid controversy.