Will Éric Piolle authorize the burkini in the municipal swimming pools of Grenoble?
As summer approaches, an open letter and an interview with the mayor of Grenoble rekindle tensions about this covering swimsuit, which certain Muslim associations would like to see authorized in establishments in the capital of the Alps.
“In Grenoble, we will ensure that no internal regulations of any public equipment constitute an injunction or discrimination”, declared the councilor Europe Ecology-the Greens, in an interview with Dauphiné Libéré this Friday.
The opposition immediately saw it as an endorsement of the burkini, while new regulations are being drafted and are to be considered in committee on Tuesday.
“Éric Piolle formalizes that he will propose the authorization of the burkini in swimming pools on May 16 to the Municipal Council: I call on the people of Grenoble to come that day to demand a referendum.
It is not mandated to support political Islamism, ”immediately protested on Twitter former minister Alain Carignon, main opponent of the municipal council.
“The Islamist patriarchal diktat”
In 2019, activists from the Citizen Alliance bathed in one of Grenoble's swimming pools wearing this bathing suit covering the ankles and wrists of Muslim women, which comes with a swimming cap to hide their hair.
They felt that the rules of procedure excluded “veiled Muslim women”.
Since then, the subject has been explosive within the first large city to be passed under the Europe Écologie-les Verts label.
“Piolle opens the door to a category of burkini.
This is unacceptable.
He gives in to the pressure of an association and its operations.
It is to accept the Islamist patriarchal diktat, which makes Muslim women believe that it is the Koran which imposes the veil and hides nudity", strangles with the Parisian Brigitte Boer, elected various right and member of the commission which must review the 2022 settlement.
The new text, which we were able to consult, provides for a little more generosity than the old one, which only authorized "one or two-piece swimsuits", covering "as much as possible the part located above the knees and above above the elbows”.
The term "swimsuit" has been replaced by "swimwear", without ever appearing the word "burkini".
"Swimming suits must be made of a fabric specifically designed for swimming, fitted close to the body and must not have been worn before access to the pool (…) Non-close fitting outfits longer than half -thigh (long, wide or flared dress or tunic) and swimsuits-shorts are prohibited, ”indicates article 10, hygiene and safety rule, of the provisional text.
Tensions within the majority of Éric Piolle
Is this a step towards the authorization of the burkini, already accepted in the swimming pools of Rennes in particular?
If the majority in Grenoble does not mention it, the subject is no less thorny.
For several weeks, certain political figures of the majority or of Éric Piolle's party have been struggling to hide their tension, judging that any regulatory flexibility would be contrary to secularism.
In February 2021, the left-wing municipal opposition group Grenoble Nouvel Air, close to the PS, was already worried about authorization in a press release: “Éric Piolle seems ready to authorize the wearing of the burkini in Grenoble municipal swimming pools (… ).
The burkini is not a matter of secularism.
It is not a
simple sign of religious affiliation
.
(…) It is a symbol (…) of both Islamist proselytism and domination over women's bodies”.
A petition was also launched last April, in particular by former deputy mayors of Grenoble.
“Changing swimming pool regulations would lead to satisfying the demands of political Islam, that is to say of a totalitarian and radical ideology (…) Granting the wearing of the burkini and the hijab a liberating and emancipatory dimension would do proof of naivety and blindness”, indicates the text.
Refocusing the health and safety debate
In a press release published on April 15, the Association Démocratie Écologie Solidarité, a member of the municipal majority, tries for its part to refocus the debate on hygiene and safety, judging it necessary that bathers do not present floating, liable to get caught in the suction outlets or to hinder the rescue services in case of necessity”.
“Some associations or pressure groups seek to bring about the debate either on the freedom to dress as one sees fit, otherwise they protest against
discrimination
, or conversely for the prohibition of clothing of a religious or community nature.
These expressions and claims are not to be taken into account when drafting the regulations on accepted swimwear because it is irrelevant,” the statement concluded.