France's top court has suspended the controversial burkini ban in a test case after a human rights group questioned the rule imposed by a number of seaside towns.
The decision only applies to one particular town of Villeneuve-Loubet, near Nice, but it is likely to set a legal precedent for up to 30 other areas which have barred women from wearing the swimsuit. It is a temporary decision handed down while the court takes more time to consider the full legality of the ban.
The burkini is a swimsuit designed for Muslim women which covers the hair and body.
Lawyers for human rights groups argued the ban on "beachwear which ostentatiously displays religious affiliation" in Villeneuve-Loubet infringed on basic freedoms.
The court agreed and found the ban "seriously and clearly illegally breached fundamental freedoms to come and go, freedom of beliefs and individual freedom". The case was brought by an anti-Islamophobic organisation and a human rights group.
But those who back the ban have said it is necessary to counter extremism and defend France's secularist principles.
The issue has divided the French government with the Prime Minister Manuel Valls saying it was a "necessity" but his education minister Najat Vallaud-Belkacem who said it challenged "individual freedoms".
The deputy mayor of Nice, which has also banned the swimsuit, yesterday defended the decision.
"What is the burkini? There is bikini and there is burka and the burka is forbidden. When you go to the beach you wear a bathing suit. You don't go to the beach as you want. If I want to go on the beach naked it's forbidden-I cannot," he told the Radio 4's Edward Stourton.
"So if you want to go to the beach in a burkini it's forbidden because it is a provocation. Religion and the state are completely separated. Religion is the affair of each one but each one at home, each one at church, not each one in the street."
