A divisive debate over burkinis has reignited in France after a mayor authorised Muslim women to wear the body-covering swimsuits in council pools.
The decision of Nathalie Appéré, the Socialist mayor of Rennes in Brittany, has infuriated right-wingers who denounce the burkini as a threat to the French way of life.
The row began when a 23-year-old woman with a five-month-old daughter asked for permission to swim in a burkini in Gayeulles pool in Rennes last week and was told that it was allowed. Other swimmers expressed anger and contacted local politicians.
France banned Muslim headscarves in schools in 2004 and face-covering niqabs in all public places in 2011. There is no national law against the burkini but in 2016, a series of towns banned the garment from beaches on the grounds that it was an ostentatious religious symbol at odds with French secularism. [The Times (£)] Read more
