The city of Nice has joined other local authorities in suspending the anti-burkini ordinance introduced on August 19. The move followed a ruling of France’s Council of State invalidating a similar ordinance introduced by Villeneuve-Loubet. Menton withdrew its own ordinance on Wednesday night.

The moves mark an important victory for the Committee Against Islamophobia in France and the League for Human Rights. The European Convention on Human Rights declared the local rulings as discriminatory. Under Article 9 of the European Convention, freedom of religion includes the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, and the freedom to exercise religion or belief publicly or privately, alone or with others. Advocates of repealing the local burkini bans have argued that beach dress is a matter of choice.

Internationally, the burkini bans have been met with incredulity, as police officers patrolled French beaches ordering women to take off more clothes.