France 'burkini ban': Images of police on beach fuel debate | BBC

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“[T]he European Media Director of Human Rights Watch, Andrew Stroehlein, wrote: “Question of the day: How many armed policemen does it take to force a woman to strip in public?” Full story here.

Also see: France’s burkini ban exposes the hypocrisy of its secularist state | The Guardian

And: Senior Paris Rabbi Defends Controversial Burkini Bans Throughout France | Ha’aretz

And: France’s Burkini Bans Put Muslim Women in Danger | TIME

“[D]iscriminatory burkini bans risk making Muslim women less secure. According to official French government figures, anti-Muslim attacks tripled between 2014 and 2015; a year earlier, in 2013, 80% of anti-Muslim attacks in France were against women. Women wearing hijab or other visible clothing associated with Islam are particularly singled out for harassment and violence, often by men and increasingly in the aftermath of terror attacks in Europe. Against this backdrop of targeting of women in religious garb, any policy that links the burkini with terrorism puts Muslim women further in the crosshairs of Islamophobic violence.”