People protest against the municipal ban forbidding the wearing of burkinis in Port-Leucate, France. Nicolas Sarkozy said he would change the country's constitution to ban the burkini if he is re-elected | Raymond Roig/AFP via Getty Images Nicolas Sarkozy would change French constitution to ban burkini Presidential hopeful criticizes decision by French court.

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Monday he would change the country's constitution to ban the burkini if he is re-elected next year.

On Friday, France's highest administrative court, the Council of State, overturned a ban on the garment imposed by the southern town of Villeneuve-Loubet, calling it a “serious infringement on fundamental freedoms."

Sarkozy criticized the decision. "The Council of State says 'freedom, freedom, all the freedom,'" he told radio station RTL. "What is freedom when there is a tyranny of the minorities?"

He said he would propose a law "targeting specifically women wearing a burkini on the beach or in swimming pools."

When the presenter said such a move would be unconstitutional, the former French president said he would "change the constitution."

"We already changed it about 30 times, it's not a problem," he said.

French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said Sunday that a nationwide burkini ban was "likely to create antagonism and irreparable tensions,” in an interview with Christian newspaper La Croix.

Sarkozy dismissed this as untrue, saying: "What creates tensions is the lack of authority in our country, it's the lack of rules, it's the atmosphere of shambles, it's fear."

The presidential hopeful also said: "A woman has a right to be on the beach or in a swimming pool in the outfit she chooses." However, he added: "Here in France, we don't lock women behind fabric."