At the Promenade des Anglais beach in Nice, not far from where a man had driven a lorry mowing down dozens of people during Bastille Day celebrations last month, four policemen ordered a middle-aged woman to remove her burkini, The Daily Mail reported.
She was earlier spotted sunbathing at the beach, before the cops saw her and issued her an on-the-spot fine, with a warning over her lack of adherence to the dress code on the beach.
Also fined was a Muslim woman, who was just walking by the beach in Cannes with her children. Three armed police officers had reportedly pointed a pepper spray canister at the woman who was wearing a headscarf.
The officers had told her to leave the beach, saying she was in breach of the new rule outlawing swimming costumes that cover the entire body.
The woman later told the media that she was not even wearing a burkini and was not swimming, calling the officers “racist” for wanting to humiliate her.
“I wasn’t even planning to swim, just to dip my feet,” the woman was quoted as telling France 4 TV Channel. The 34-year-old woman was seen to be wearing leggings, a top, and a headscarf.
The broadcaster identified her as Sian, adding that she was a former air-hostess, and is part of a family in Toulouse, who have been French citizens for at least three generations.
The burkini was banned by a small number of towns in France for its alleged links to terrorism, the UK daily reported.
It is a beachwear that does not cover the face, and is sometimes worn by non-Muslims who want protection from the sun. However, some critics say it is provocative.
Sian denied knowing anything about the controversy over the burkini ban.
“I didn’t know exactly what was going on, I hadn’t really followed the controversy,” she said.
The France 4 TV journalist who witnessed the incident in Cannes said she saw three police officers monitoring the beach, and then targeted Sian who was wearing a “simple hijab around her hair”.
“People around her were shouting insults and saying that she was not welcome in France, and that she should go home” the TV journalist reported, according to the Daily Mail.
Siam paid the fine and lamented how despite being in the country of human rights, “yet there does not seem to be any trace of the principles of liberty, equality and fraternity. I am outraged that this could happen in France”.
The Daily Mail reported that the south of France has seen many cases of women being warned in Nice and Cannes, for wearing “inappopriate clothing”, following the announcement of the new law.
Human rights groups in France took legal measures to try and overturn the ban on the wearing of the burkini in Nice.
In their argument, the groups say that the ban is simply imposed to spread hatred against a small group of mainly Muslim mothers and grandmothers.
However, a French court has upheld the “burkini ban”, ruling that it could be offensive to others and may provoke a violent reaction.