French Mayors Ban Shisha in Public for 'Spreading Fear'

After huge controversy over the Burkini ban in France, five mayors in the south-east of the country have banned the public smoking of shisha pipes to maintain “public order” in what critics say is the latest assault on Arab and Muslim immigrants in the country amid major Islamophobia across Europe due to the refugee crisis and a series of terror attacks.

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The bans come after members of the public complained about shisha and said it was unsafe, claim officials, who deny the decision has anything to do with race or religion. 

Charles Scibetta, the mayor of Carros near Nice, said he has introduced the ban because shisha was spreading fear among locals, adding the pipes were a “social and sanitary plague”.

Shisha is flavored tobacco used in hookah pipes and is traditionally used in the Middle East where it is popular in Syria, Lebanon, Turkey as well as the countries of North Africa, where many of the immigrants in France come from.

In recent years shisha has become popular in other parts of the world, notably in Europe due to Arab and Muslim immigrants.

Hamdi Chebli, a 22-year-old French man of north African descent, told the British newspaper The Times that the ban is “stupid and unjust”. He said he had sent a letter to the mayor asking him to lift the ban but had not heard anything back.

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Over the past few months more than 30 mayors issued bans on wearing the Muslim "burkini" swimwear on beaches. However, in late August France’s top court ruled the bans were illegal as they infringe on “freedom of beliefs and individual freedom.”

Europe has seen a surge in Islamophobia and xenophobia amid a major refugee crisis across the continent as millions have arrived at its shores over the past few years triggered mainly by the Syrian conflict.

Several far-right parties in France, Germany, the U.K. and other countries in Europe have also been gaining support using anti-immigration rhetoric following several terror attacks in Europe by the Islamic State group.