A former mayor of Nice has warned that legal action could be taken against people sharing photographs of police enforcing his region’s new burkini ban.
Christian Estrosi, a regional president, (pictured above) claimed to have already reported some social media users to the authorities after images emerged of a woman being held and gunpoint and made to remove the Islamic swimwear.
French ban on the burkini is threatening to turn into a farce https://t.co/rsuk2iajqO pic.twitter.com/OssfVGrP9Q
— Daily Mail Online (@MailOnline) August 23, 2016
Is this laïcité? Is this what being liberal looks like? Men forcing women to take clothes off? https://t.co/NOT4IcvuF5
— Aisha S Gani (@aishagani) August 23, 2016
Stark photographs of the moment on a beach in Nice intensified opposition to the ban, which had been criticised as illiberal, bigoted and self-defeating.
As the photograph went viral, abuse and threats aimed at the officers multiplied, which Estrosi cited as another reason for action to be taken.
Estrosi was the mayor of Nice until June this year, and is now the president of the Regional Council of Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, an administrative region which includes Nice.
In a press release Wednesday afternoon, he said: “Complaints have already been filed to prosecute those who spread photographs of our police officers [enforcing the burkini law], and who make threats against them on social media.”
Blague du jour, C. Estrosi dépose plainte contre ceux qui diffusent photos de la femme voilée déshabillée #WTFFrance pic.twitter.com/WCTLZNRr0h
— Widad.K (@widadk) August 24, 2016
It is not clear which, if any, law Estrosi believes those who shared the image face broken.
The ban, which follows a 2010 prohibition on wearing the burqa in public, comes after a major Islamist terror attack in Nice on Bastille Day, which killed 86 people.
Estrosi’s statement is the latest in a series highlighted by Heat Street of authority figures using threats to clamp down on online sharing.
Last week we revealed that the British Olympic team threatened to sue over retweeting its posts.