French court to rule on burkini ban's legality today

France's highest administrative court will today be ruling on whether a ban on the full-body "burkini" swimming suit is legal.

Several French coastal towns banned women from wearing the full-body swimwear, claiming them to be an affront to France's secular values. The bans also come at a time of heightened public security fears following attacks by Islamist militants in Paris, Nice and elsewhere in the past 20 months.

The French Human Rights League instituted the case against the controversial ban. The group is arguing that women should be free to wear what they want on French beaches.

Media reports that opinion polls indicate that the ban has popular support, but this will have little bearing on the court's decision.

"I refuse to let the burkini impose itself in French beaches and swimming pools. ... There must be a law to ban it throughout the republic's territory," former president Nicolas Sarkozy had told a rally for his 2017 presidential election campaign on Thursday.

Security and immigration are now central issues in the presidential election campaign.

France's clampdown on Muslim attire has sparked protests and condemnation at home and abroad. Photos of armed French police allegedly asking a woman to remove part of her burkini on a beach sparked a storm of outrage. In London on Thursday, protesters demonstrated against the ban outside the French embassy. The U.S. has expressed concerns about measures taken in France regarding Muslim attire, in particular its ban on full-face veils in public spaces.