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Evan Bartlett
Aug 26, 2016

France's highest administrative court has suspended the burkini ban in one of the country's southern communes, ruling that it is "clearly illegal" and violates fundamental liberties.
While the suspension only applies to the area of Villeneuve-Loubet, the State Council's ruling sets a precedent for the rest of the country.
The court's decision comes after days of international criticism following images of armed police officers forcing a woman to remove clothes on a beach in Nice.
To highlight the arbitrariness of the ban, people had been sharing various comparisons showing what was acceptable on French beaches and what was not.
One popular image on Tumblr was this comparison showing a Muslim woman in a burkini and a Catholic woman in a full-body swimsuit:
On a similar theme, people have shared this:
An Italian imam posted a photo of Catholic nuns in religious dress on a beach, hinting that they probably wouldn't be asked to change clothes:
British designer Amy Clancy drew this cartoon of the things you can and cannot wear on a French beach:
Others used this image of "Smokey" Buchanan, from the West Palm Beach police force, measuring the bathing suit of Betty Fringle on Palm Beach, to ensure that it conformed with regulations introduced by beach censors back in 1925:
Cartoonist Khalid Albaih drew comparisons between France and countries like Saudi Arabia and Iran which have morality police enforcing restrictions on clothing:
And the Washington Post's Ann Telnaes made this:
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