Finally the point about France being able to restrict the clothing of women because some middle eastern countries do. Well first off be specific that it is Saudi and Iran that police women's dress. You can find women not wearing burqa/abaya or hijab in other middle eastern countries such as Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt, UAE, Jordan etc. You can even find women in bikini in some of these countries.
Secondly Saudi and Iran are theocracies. They don't pretend to be shining beacons of human rights, lecturing other countries about violations to human rights. France on the other hand parades itself as a more civilised country and one that respects human rights. I do not expect it to be emulating countries like Saudi and Iran which dictate what women can and can't wear or compromising the rights of women to freedom of thought, conscience and religion.
Also France is a secular country. According to the national secular society of the UK, secularism is;
^a principle that involves two basic propositions. The first is the strict separation of the state from religious institutions. The second is that people of different religions and beliefs are EQUAL before the law.
Separation of religion from state
The separation of religion and state is the foundation of secularism. It ensures that religious groups don't interfere in affairs of state, and MAKES SURE THE STATE DOESNT INTERFERE IN RELIGIOUS AFFAIRS^
Now from various statements made by the French mayors and also by posters here this is very much an interference in religious affairs. They don't like the beliefs of Muslims or the behaviour of Muslim men so are passing laws to make it difficult for Muslim women specifically who cover (so not being equal) to access facilities and also to pressure them to abandon an aspect of their religion which they don't like so interfering in religious affairs. So it's not a shining example of human rights nor is it of secularism as it's burkini bans are very far from being neutral.
Because of this I do not see people's approval for the burkini ban as being supportive of Muslim women or motivated by a desire to help Muslim women who are forced to dress modestly in other countries. Taking rights away from one group of women to dress how they like won't give other women the right to dress how they like and is equally oppressive. No this is very much motivated by a dislike and fear of Islam (many posters have mentioned their anger at the behaviour of Muslim men and also things like terrorism which are hardly connected to modest swimwear). It is unjust, abhorrent and counter productive to use or punish Muslim women in an ideological war with extremist interpretations of Islam and in fact does a huge harm to the advancement of women's rights to bring in laws controlling what women can and can't wear.