Court Overturns Controversial Burkini Ban in French Riviera Town

A setback for the municipality of Mandelieu-la-Napoule (Alpes-Maritimes). The administrative court of Nice suspended the decree it issued on July 15 last year to ban swimming during the summer for anyone wearing "swimwear that ostensibly manifests a religious affiliation", reports SaphirNews. "Within the public space, everyone enjoys the freedoms guaranteed by law. Mayors, in the context of their mission to maintain public order, can only infringe on them by taking appropriate, necessary and proportionate measures. These measures must take into account the circumstances of time and place and be justified by imperatives of public order. This is particularly the case with regard to the measures that the mayor of a coastal municipality can take to organize access to the beach," the interim judge first recalls.

In the eyes of the magistrate, the arguments - "a risk of disturbance to public order during the summer of 2025" - presented by the town hall to justify its decision are insufficient. "The municipality merely reports disturbances and clashes that would have taken place on the beaches of the municipality during the summer of 2024, as well as the current context of inter-religious tensions," the judge points out. Furthermore, "neither these incidents, which are moreover unproven, nor the context of inter-religious tensions are likely to make it appear that the ban on the entire beaches of the municipality of attire ostensibly manifesting a religious affiliation would, at the date on which the contested decree was issued, be justified by proven risks of disturbances to public order," the court ruled by order.

The League of Human Rights (LDH) which had challenged the municipal decree is pleased with the court’s decision. "These bans constitute a distortion of secularism, reinforce the feeling of exclusion and contribute to legitimizing those who make Islamophobia their stock in trade," the organization comments. Sébastien Leroy, mayor of Mandelieu-la-Napoule, on the other hand, denounces the court’s decision. He denounces "inaction in the face of communitarianism and Islamic infiltration".

In Carry-le-Rouet (Bouches-du-Rhône), the LDH has won another victory. The organization managed to get a municipal decree banning the wearing of the burkini during the summer suspended. In an order dated July 11 last year, the administrative court of Marseille suspended the municipal decree on the grounds that the municipal ban constitutes a "serious and manifestly illegal infringement of fundamental freedoms". "No risk to the hygiene or safety of beach users, lifeguards and bathers related to the wearing of the prohibited attire" had been demonstrated, the interim judge added.