This past year has been filled with almost daily terror attacks somewhere in the world, according to a July 15 USA Today article. However, for France in particular, there have been many tragedies, from a lorry running over more than 80 people — including children — on a national holiday to a priest who was stabbed in a Catholic church by two attackers.

It goes without saying that, recently, there have been increasing tensions between most of France and its relatively small Muslim community — approximately 7.5 percent of the population, according to a July 19 Pew Research Center article. These Muslims have been treated with more suspicion as Islamophobia has increased, and the situation worsened when the mayors of thirty seaside towns in France tried to ban the “burkini,” a cross between a burqa and a swimsuit. Muslim women are the largest customers of these burkinis, since this article of clothing covers the entire body except for the face, hands and feet and allows Muslim women to go to the beach, swim and do whatever non-Muslim women can do without compromising the modesty the burqa provides. 

On Aug. 12, the mayor of Cannes, David Lisnard banned these swimsuits, justifying the action by saying that burkinis are a “symbol of Islamic extremism.” Following his lead, 20 other French towns joined the ban, including Nice, according to an Aug. 29 CNN International article. Following this, many women were fined, ticketed and verbally attacked; they were insulted by police and bystanders because they were not wearing “an outfit respecting good morals and secularism,” according to this article. People who were not wearing the burkini but were in modest clothing and were wearing hijabs or headscarves also faced verbal abuse. It even went to the extreme that one woman, who remains anonymous, was forced to remove her clothing on a beach in Nice by law enforcement, according to an Aug. 24 USA Today article. However, Nice mayor Philippe Pradal denied that the woman was forced to remove her clothing — despite the fact that a bystander caught the incident on video — and condemned her for wearing clothing that he said was an act of “unacceptable provocation” after the Nice terror attack in July, according to an Aug. 29 CNN article. 

It begs the question: How does an article of clothing that covers the entire body not represent good morals? France has nude beaches, so they are clearly progressive in allowing people to dress how they please. If people can go to a beach wearing no clothing whatsoever, people should also be able to go fully clothed and covered.

The ban has been supported by a number of French politicians, including the president of the anti-immigration National Front party and the socialist prime minister, Manuel Valls. Valls stated that the burkini is “the expression of a political project, a counter-society, based notably on the enslavement of women,” according to the same Aug. 29 CNN article. However, most Muslim women who wear headscarves or dress conservatively do so because it is their own choice. By banning the burkini, these French politicians are forcing Muslim women to chose between their values and going to the beach. The bans resulted in some outrage among socialist parties, and rights’ groups disapproved of Muslim women being stopped from wearing headscarves and long sleeves on the beach. However, a survey by Ifop, a French opinion poll institute, showed that 64 percent of the French population supported the ban while around 30 percent were indifferent, according to an Aug. 24 article in Le Figaro, a French publication. 

This means that only six percent openly opposed the ban. These statistics are not good for France. If France’s Muslim population feels discriminated against and feels that the rest of the country has a strong hatred toward them, the situation will worsen.

However, the ban has created worldwide outrage, particularly in English-speaking countries. An Aug. 18 New York Times editorial called French politicians’ “paternalistic pronouncements on the republic’s duty to save Muslim women from enslavement” hypocritical bigotry. British Liberal Muslim activist Maajid Nawaz disagreed with both the burkini and its ban by saying, “Burkini is a sad symbol of Islam today going backwards on gender issues. Banning it is sad symbol of liberalism today going backwards in reply.” Muslim women have argued that the burkini allows women who do not want to expose their bodies an opportunity to enjoy the beach like other people do. Human Rights Watch also criticized the ban in an Aug. 25 article, saying that it “actually amounts to banning women from the beach, in the middle of the summer, just because they wish to cover their bodies in public.” They continued by remarking, “It’s almost a form of collective punishment against Muslim women for the actions of others.” The burkini bans are also a violation of human rights; no one should have the power to police women’s bodies and tell them what they cannot wear. France claims to be so liberal, but France’s ban of the burkini and the burqa, which they banned in 2010, can be compared to Saudi Arabia’s modesty restrictions.  

Beyond that, the burkini bans exceed Islamophobia by policing the bodies of non-Muslim women, as well. Zanetti, the creator of the burkini, estimates that around 40 percent of their clients are non-Muslim, according to an Aug. 22 Daily Mail article; burkinis are also great for anybody who is conservative, modest or dealing with body issues. The burkini is very popular in Israel, both amongst Jewish-Haredi people and Muslims. 

France’s highest administrative courts ruled that mayors do not have the right to ban the burkini, according to an Aug. 29 CNN article. However, several French mayors have reportedly maintained their bans. In a test case expected to set legal precedent, the court suspended the burkini ban in one French Riviera town, Villeneuve-Loubet, which was obliged to immediately scrap its decree. But the ruling was dismissed by many other mayors, according to an Aug. 28 article in the Guardian. 

Only two mayors lifted their bans after the Villeneuve-Loubet ruling: the  mayor of Oye-Plages and the mayor of Eze in the Alpes-Maritimes. Mayors from the right-wing Les Républicains party and from the far-right Front National are keeping their bans in place, insisting that the Villeneuve-Loubet case does not apply to them.

Banning the burkini will just increase Islamophobia and hatred. The Muslim community will feel even more detached from the rest of France, and the hate will grow. 

There will be dire consequences, and religious terrorism may well increase instead of decrease. If the Muslim community feels that they are being treated unfairly and are being discriminated against, then it is more likely that some members may react with violence.