As we’ve mentioned before, viral pictures show police in Nice, France apparently enforcing the local “burkini ban.” A Muslim woman was seen taking off pieces of clothing then leaving the beach. Now some, including politicians and media outlets, claim it was staged.
See one of the pictures here:
I interviewed Siam yday – astonishing how French holidaymakers applauded police throwing her off the beach https://t.co/UKzjwx5do0 #Burkini
— Sophie Garratt (@SophGarratt) August 25, 2016
“You don’t need to be a genius to know what happened,” said the socialist politician Julien Dray, and former member of the French National Assembly. “I am suspicious. She is near a police post. She does not seem to want to sunbathe because she is covered up, but she does not have a parasol, either. ‘Who sent a photographer to that spot to take those pictures. By whom? To what end?’ Hardly had they gone online than they went round the world, notably in the Middle East media. These images seem to have been prepared. If this is true, it is very serious. That would confirm that people are deliberately try to damage the unity of our country and our freedoms.”
Magazine honcho Laurent Bouvet and TV political editor Olivier Siou made similar claims.
“People are getting indignant about these photos, but not about the obvious provocation,” Siou said. “She was alone without a thing under the burning sun. The trap worked. There is manipulation.”
Nice is one of almost 30 French towns that banned the burkini. some Muslim women wear this full body alternative to the bikini, and on Friday, the nation’s Council of State overturned a ban in one town, effectively squashing such prohibitions nationwide. The court said freedom of religion was being violated.
On Wednesday, Christian Estrosi, the deputy mayor of Nice, threatened to sue people who shared photos and videos of police enforcing the burkini ban. He believed they fostered anti-cop sentiment.
[h/t The Daily Mail]
[screegrab of Dray via On n’est pas couché]
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