There is danger that tensions in France over Muslim women being banned from wearing religious attire may escalate to the point where extremist groups take the matter into their own hands, Dr Natalie Doyle, an academic at Monash University who specialises in French society and politics, told SBS.
“And that has the capacity to escalate into a kind of civil war, that is the nightmare scenario.”
French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve warned citizens on Wednesday against adopting hostile attitudes towards Muslims in an attempt to quell the furore over 15 local governments banning burkinis in 2016.
"The implementation of secularism, and the option of adopting such decrees must not lead to stigmatisation or the creation of hostility between French people," Mr Cazeneuve said.
He made the call after meeting with Anouar Kbibech, the chief of the French Council of the Muslim Faith, who had requested to urgently discuss widespread debate ignited by the emergence of a photograph that showed policemen standing over a woman dressed in leggings, a long-sleeved shirt and headscarf at the Promenade des Anglais in Nice.
It was initially reported that police had compelled her to remove her clothes but the mayor of Nice insisted she was instead showing policemen she wore a swimsuit underneath.
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In the same week, a woman told news agency AFP that she had been fined by police for wearing leggings, a tunic and a headscarf at a beach in Cannes. Her ticket, sighted by AFP, read that she was not wearing "an outfit respecting good morals and secularism".
It's not the first time such bans have been implemented. In 2004, French parliament voted to prohibit "ostentatious" religious symbols from schools. In 2011 it became illegal to wear clothing that covered one's face.
Former president Nicolas Sarkozy responded to this year's beach incidents by describing burkini swimsuits as a “provocation” that supported radicalised Islam.
"We don't imprison women behind fabric,'' he said on Wednesday.
However, Dr Natalie Doyle said she believed that it was French secular society that had become radicalised.
The principle of secularism, or laïcité, which forbids people from wearing any clothing that indicates any religion, was enshrined in French law in 1905 and validated constitutionally since the Constitution of the Fourth Republic in the mid-20th Century.
The law was intended to separate Catholicism from the state to prevent this religion dictating the public and to treat all religions equally.
“There’s been a degradation and radicalisation of this law and what it means," she said.
“You can never liberate people by oppressing them, arresting them, fining them.
“We see the great irony, we see the right of women being taken away with all these assumptions about why they are wearing this [Muslim clothing]."
'The bans are unconstitutional'
The French Administrative Court, which is expected to decide whether to overturn the burkini bans on Friday, will likely find they are unconstitutional, Professor Simon Tormey, a political scientist from the University of Sydney who specialises in France, told SBS.
The secular law had only banned religious clothing from public institutions such as schools and town halls.
“I would be flabbergasted if the Administrative Court didn’t overturn the bans [on burkinis],” Professor Tormey said.
He said the law did not forbid people from wearing religious markers in public spaces such as beaches and parks.
While the law had not fully clarified which public arenas prohibited religious attire, he said he would be surprised if the law were amended to include beaches and parks. If it were, “you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to realise it will cause a major violent backlash”.
By the same token, if the bans are overturned, “you can imagine the reaction, there are going to be street riots," he said.
“There’s going to be a pretty bumpy ride all the way through, and it’s not going to go away.”
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With AFP
