French PM supports burkini ban, rules out new legislation

Paris, Aug 17 (IANS) French Prime Minister Manuel Valls on Wednesday supported the ban issued in several parts of the country against the burkini, but ruled out government legislation on the matter.

Valls said in an interview with La Provence newspaper that general laws dictating clothes are not a solution, Efe reported.

French law bans the niqab -- a veil worn by some Muslim women in public, covering all of the face apart from the eyes -- in the country's streets, while the veil and other religious symbols are prohibited in educational centres.

Valls said he understood the mayors who, during these tense times, were looking to avoid public order problems and he supported their decisions to ban the garment.

For the Prime Minister, the burkini is an expression of a political and counter-society project founded mainly on the enslavement of women.