London - France's prime minister was accused of being a ‘cretin’ on Tuesday after saying bare breasts were a glorious representation of his troubled country.
In a clumsy speech about national identity, Manuel Valls contrasted Marianne – the mythical goddess who represents the French Republic – with veiled Muslim women.
"Marianne has a naked breast because she is feeding the people! She is not veiled, because she is free! That is the Republic!" he told a government rally.
The Daily Mail reports that respected historian Mathilde Larrere tweeted: ‘Marianne has a naked breast because she’s an allegory, you cretin!’
The Independent reports that debate over women wearing so-called "burkinis" on beaches in the south of France took a new turn after a second court overturned the ban on the full-body swimsuits.
The court in Nice ruled that the Cannes decree violates basic freedoms and is illegal as there were no proven risks of disruption to public order, or reasons of hygiene or decency for the ban. The decision follows a ruling by France's highest administrative court over a similar ban in the Riviera town of Villeneuve-Loubet, which set a legal precedent.
After the Council of State overturned the Villeneuve-Loubet ban last week, human rights groups said they would challenge similar bans issued in around 30 French cities, resorts and communes.
Valls invoked the symbol of the French republic, Marianne, to suggest that a woman's bare breasts are more representative of France than a headscarf.
One historian said, however, that Marianne was an allegory and the use of her naked breast was "just an artistic code" and therefore nothing to do with femininity. The presence of a Phrygian cap, another sign of revolution, also made the Prime Minister's remarks comical, according to Green politician Cécile Duflot.
Valls last week defended mayors who wished to impose beach bans on the items. Cannes was the first in a series of Riviera towns to ban the full-body swimsuits, worn by some Muslim women, on its beaches.
Rulings over the bans have been closely watched in France and around the world, after photos of armed police surrounding a Muslim woman as she removed her top on a beach in Nice sparked outrage.
Lawyers for a human rights group and a Muslim collective challenged the Villeneuve-Loubet ban at the top court, saying mayors had overstepped their powers by telling women what to wear on beaches.
Mayors had previously cited a number of reasons for the bans. These included security after a string of terror attacks in the country and elsewhere in Europe, a risk to public order and France's rules on secularism in public.
The Council of State ruled: "The emotion and concerns arising from the terrorist attacks, notably the one perpetrated in Nice on July 14, cannot suffice to justify in law the contested prohibition measure."
Cannes mayor David Lisnard, said earlier this month the ban was being introduced in the town to prohibit "beachwear ostentatiously showing a religious affiliation while France and places of religious significance are the target of terror attacks".
"I took this decision among several other rulings to make sure my city is safe in the context of the state of emergency," he added.
Following the overturn of the Villeneuve-Loubet ban, lawyer Patrice Spinosi, representing the Human Rights League, said women who had already received fines could appeal against them based on the decision.
He said the group planned to ask all French mayors who banned burkinis to withdraw their orders and, if they refused to do so, he would systematically take each case to court.
Earlier yesterday, the UN human rights office condemned local bans in France on burkini swimwear as "a grave and illegal breach of fundamental freedoms" and a "stupid reaction" to recent extremist attacks.
The Independent and Daily Mail