France’s struggle with the Islamic dress has gone to the pool after a 35-year woman was banned from swimming in the burkini, a head-to-toe swimsuits.
The woman, identified only as Carole, had made a third trip to the city pool burkini Emerainville, eastern suburbs of Paris, where the head of the lifeguard ordered to leave.
Said to violate the rules of hygiene, but its launch has become the latest episode in a battle between Islamic fundamentalists and a state that has banned the head-cover in schools and to address the reduction to cover the public.
Carole pool of officials accused of illegal discrimination and went straight to the police and the media. “Quite simply, this is the separation», he said. “We will try to fight to change things. And when I see that the battle is lost, can not exclude the expense of France. ”
The police refused to accept the complaint on the grounds that it was the only lifeguard impose a rule that applies to all French public swimming pools. Women must wear bathing suits and men must wear short shorts instead of logs, which are said to be more likely to harbor bacteria.
Carole, who was born into a traditional French family and converted to Islam at age 17, said that the clothing bought on holiday in Dubai. The burkini, designed by Aheda Zanetti, a Lebanese-Australian, is a blow to the Gulf and caused problems in public swimming pools in Europe and North America.
Despite the reference to the Afghan burka, the costume leaves the face uncovered. The body is clad in a track-suit-like jacket and coat and head and neck are covered with a cross between a hijab and the diver BALACLAVA helmet.
“I thought it would allow me to enjoy the pleasure of bathing without revealing too, as recommended by Islam, said the newspaper Le Parisien. “I understand that people might shock, but I am annoyed because I said it is a political issue. I was not to cause unrest. My only goal was to be able to swim with my children. ”
The local authorities insisted that the policy was not involved. “The lady was almost fully dressed,” Daniel Guillaume, head of sports facilities for the Seine-et-Marne département, said. “The staff simply apply the rules applicable to all groups in France.” This view is not shared by politicians who want tougher measures to oppose an increase in body covered by a strict Muslim women, Muslims and demanding segregated sessions for men and women in swimming pools and other sporting facilities.
“You can see the woman’s face in this ridiculous costume, but it is obviously a challenge from the militant, said André Gerin, a communist MP from the Rhone. “Going straight to the police station is clear evidence that there is political project behind the uniform. There is no doubt this is the beginning of a new problem. ”
Mr Gerin heads 32-member parliamentary inquiry that opened last month to reconsider the possibility of a law to bar Muslim women from wearing the face covering niqab in public. President Sarkozy fundamentalist stirred anger in June, when they were in the review, saying that the garment was a symbol of faith, but a sign of female subservience, and that was not in France.”
The move to legislate drew a violent response by foreign extremists. “Yesterday the hijab and is now the niqab”, said Abu Musab Abdul Wadud, leader of Al Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb. “We will take revenge for the honor of our daughters and sisters, against France and its interests with all means at our disposal.”
France has caused such a stir in the Muslim world in 2004 with a law barring the hijab headscarf and other religious dress in public primary and secondary schools.
The measure, which was implemented without protest, which is strongly supported by the public, including a substantial number of the six million Muslims in the country.