Cannes prohibits the Islamic swimsuit

The Cannes’ City Hall declared on Tuesday that it has banned the full-body swimsuits known as "burkinis" from the beach, citing public order concerns. The order signed by Mayor David Lisnard states that "access to beaches and for swimming is banned to any person wearing improper clothes that are not respectful of good morals and secularism, hygiene and safety for entry into the public water" reported AFP.

According to the order of the mayor, "beachwear which ostentatiously displays religious affiliation, when France and places of worship are currently the target of terrorist attacks, is liable to create risks of disrupting public order." France TV Info's legal blog, Judge Marie, says the risk of disturbing public order, invoked by the Cannes mayor, seems rather tenuous. "The basic freedom to come and go dressed as you please seems to me to be infringed in a way that is disproportionate to this risk," the blog says.

This is not the first time that women's clothing has been restricted in France. In 2011 it became the first country in Europe to ban the full-face Islamic veil, known as the burka, as well as the partial face covering, the niqab. Burkinis are worn by women who want to comply with the requirements of strict modesty imposed by Islamic faith. French law prohibits the wearing of headscarves in public in full.

An attack claimed by the group Islamic State ended with 85 dead on July 14 in Nice, a city located about 30 kilometers from Cannes and a priest was killed on July 26 in northwestern France by two young men that were ISIS members.