"These decrees do not improve the security situation but rather fuel religious intolerance and the stigmatisation of Muslims in France, especially women… Dress codes such as the anti-burqini decrees disproportionately affect women and girls, undermining their autonomy by denying them the ability to make independent decisions about how to dress, and clearly discriminate against them," he was quoted as saying by The Local France newspaper.
He also added that the way in which the bans on burkinis have been implemented in French resorts was "humiliating and degrading."
On Friday, the Council of State, France's high administrative court, ruled to suspended the Villeneuve-Loubet mayor's decision to ban burkinis from the town's beaches. The ruling followed an appeal by the French Human Rights League.
Earlier this summer, burkinis were banned from municipal beaches in 15 French towns, including Nice, which suffered a terrorist attack in July that left 84 people dead.
