Certain elements in France, including municipal officials and police, now had just the excuse they needed to lash out. But in France beaches are now locations of fear and loathing for Muslim women. But in fact that motto, arising out of the French Revolution, needs to be looked at a little more closely. The new attacks on Muslim women have nothing to do with laïcité, a concept of secularity that applies to state institutions, not beaches. We have all seen Muslim women cloaked head-to-toe in black cloth in the full heat of summer, accompanied by Muslim men in shorts and T-shirts.

Source: National Post August 25, 2016 15:06 UTC