FRANCE: A woman was forced to remove a part of her clothing on a beach in Nice by armed police officers after a ban on the 'burkini' swimsuit was enforced, a series of photos that emerged online Wednesday showed.
Nice last week became the latest French seaside resort to ban the burkini, the body-concealing Islamic swimsuit that has sparked heated debate in secular France.
The photos showed French police officers confronting a woman resting on a beach at Nice's Promenade des Anglais and asking her to remove what they consider to be a burkini, The Guardian reported.
Four police officers stand around the woman as she removes a blue garment, with one officer appearing to take notes or issuing a fine. It could not be ascertained if the woman was actually wearing a burkini.
The mother of two had also been fined at a Cannes beach while wearing leggings, a tunic and a headscarf.
The ticket issued to her, seen by AFP, stated that she was not wearing “an outfit respecting good morals and secularism”.
“I was sitting on a beach with my family... I was wearing a classic headscarf. I had no intention of swimming,” said the 34-year old, who gave her only her first name, Siam.
A witness to the scene, Mathilde Cousin, confirmed the incident.
"The saddest thing was that people were shouting ‘go home’, some were applauding the police," The Guardian quoted her as saying. "Her daughter was crying."
Promenade des Anglais was the scene of 'Bastille Day' lorry attack on July 14 which resulted in 86 deaths.
According to city officials the burkini ban targets clothing that "overtly manifests adherence to a religion at a time when France and places of worship are the target of terrorist attacks". A total of 15 French towns have so far ruled against the garment.
The Nice Tribunal ruled on Monday that the ban in Villeneuve-Loubet was necessary to protect the community from possible public disorder and extremist sentiments.
The burkini was "liable to offend the religious convictions or (religious) non-convictions of other users of the beach," and "be felt as a defiance or a provocation exacerbating tensions felt by" the community, it added.
Burkinis are a rare sight on French beaches, where a small minority of Muslim women can be seen bathing in ordinary clothes and wearing headscarves.
The recent spate of burkini bans have triggered a fierce debate around the globe about the right of government in controlling women's clothing choices and mandating cultural secularism.
