French High Court to Rule on Burkini Bans

— -- France's highest administrative court is expected to announce Friday if it is legal for local communities to ban "burkinis," the full-body, head-covering swimsuits worn by some Muslim women.

Officials in a number of French towns have banned the swimsuit. Those in favor of the bans, from Nice to Cannes, say they promote secularism and prevent public disorder after recent French terror attacks.

ABC News spoke to French Muslims in Paris who expressed frustration at the bans.

“I don’t understand. I don’t think we are bothering anyone with our burkinis," one woman told ABC News. “[Those who ban burkinis] are trying to make us look like we are the bad people.”

“Everybody in the world, they wear what they want. Liberty. In France we say, 'Liberté, égalité, fraternité.' OK?" Sheikh Ahmed Jamal-Eddine, an imam, said. "French or not French. Muslims. Jews. Christians. Everybody has the same laws.”

A court in Nice ruled the ban as necessary earlier this week, saying the burkini can be viewed as “lowering” a woman’s place “which is not consistent with their status in a democratic society,” according to The Associated Press.

But approximately 30 demonstrators who gathered outside the French embassy in London today called the ban “Islamophobia.” They say women should be allowed to wear whatever they want.

The mayors of London and Paris have also criticized the bans.

"I appreciate that there is a state of emergency in France," Sadiq Khan, London's first Muslim mayor, said today during a trip to Paris, according to The Associated Press.

"I don't think anybody should be telling women what they can or what they can't wear," he added.

For her part, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo demanded an end to the burkini "hysteria," The Associated Press reported.