Despite the unprecedented heatwave sweeping across western Europe, lifeguards in Grenoble have shut down the city’s two municipal swimming pools after Muslim women went swimming in burkinis.
The women went to the pools twice at the initiative of the Alliance Citoyenne rights group to challenge a city ban on the full-body swimwear.
According to a statement from the town hall, the lifeguards at the pools asked for the shutdown because “they are there to maintain safety and they can’t do that when they have to worry about the crowds”. It added: “We are working towards a positive solution.”
The incident marks the latest in row over face- and body-covering garments worn by Muslim women in a country with strict laws on secularism.
France – which has Europe’s largest Muslim population – was the first European country to ban the full veil in public spaces in 2011.
The European court of human rights upheld the ban in 2014, rejecting arguments that outlawing full-face veils breached religious freedom. [The Guardian] Read more
