Paris: A 34-year-old Muslim woman was forced to remove her burkini who was resting on the shore at a Nice beach, by four police officers. They pointed a pepper spray canister in the woman’s face and told her she was in breach of a new rule outlawing swimming costumes that cover the entire body.
The burkini, is a body-concealing women’s swimsuit that fits an Islamic dress code, has stirred a controversy in France. The police officers forced her to remove her blue long-sleeved tunic.
Another young Muslim mother was also ordered off the beach at Cannes and fined for wearing leggings, a tunic and a headscarf.
The women who gave only her first name, Siam said. “I was sitting on a beach with my family,” adding “I was wearing a classic headscarf. I had no intention of swimming.”
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,” she said. “Her daughter was crying.”
Siam said the ‘racist’ officers simply wanted to humiliate her in front of her children and other family members, even though she was not even wearing a burkini.
Siam accepted an on-the-spot fine of around nine pounds, and her details were recorded on what will amount to a criminal record. She said: ‘Today we are not allowed on the beach. Tomorrow, the street? Tomorrow, we’ll be forbidden from practicing our religion at all?
A ban on the burkini swimsuit by several French towns will come before France’s highest administrative court on Thursday, the tribunal said.