French court mulls bid to reverse burkini ban

PARIS: France’s highest administrative court will on Thursday examine a request to overturn a ban on the burkini after photographs of police surrounding a woman on a beach fuelled the controversy over the Islamic swimsuit.

France’s Human Rights League is appealing a decision by the southern town of Villeneuve-Loubet, near Nice, which was one of the first of around 30 French towns to ban the burkini. A court in the Riviera city of Nice upheld the ban this week.

The State Council has 48 hours to issue its ruling, which is expected to set a precedent for other towns.