France: Armed police on French Riviera order Muslim woman to remove burkini
France in 2016. A country that requires military police to guard sun bathers. How ridiculous is that? If they had not taken in Muslims, made their borders frail and engaged in trade with the most barbaric people on earth, they could be living peacefully today without any threats.
Taking the custom where you go is ‘offensive’ to them yet non-Muslims are required to observe local laws and customs in their own countries. You can’t wear whatever you please as a foreigner in Iran, Saudi Barbaria, UAE, Jordan, Yemen, Afghanistan and many other Muslim countries. Isn’t it better they stay in their own countries if they don’t want to enter the 21st century? Muslims must live by the laws in the countries they select to remain in – or else they can leave.
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Armed police on French Riviera order Muslim woman to remove burkini on packed Nice beach – as mother, 34, wearing Islamic headscarf is threatened with pepper spray and fined in Cannes
- These images show police in Nice ordering a woman to strip down
- A woman in Cannes claimed ‘racist’ officers wanted to humiliate her
- French court this week upheld ‘burkini ban’ – ruling it could cause offence
- Algerian businessman said that he will pay any penalties women incur
- Judges said the ban was ‘necessary, appropriate and proportionate’
Published: 11:24, 23 August 2016
The French ban on the burkini is
threatening to turn into a farce as police officers armed with pepper
spray and batons marched onto a beach today and ordered a woman to strip
off.
Four burly cops stood over the middle-aged
woman, who had been quietly sunbathing on the Promenade des Anglais
beach in Nice – yards from the scene of the Bastille Day lorry attack –
and watched her take off a Muslim-style garment which protected her
modesty.
It is thought the woman was given a warning about the dress code on the beach and was handed an on-the-spot fine.
Four French police officers close in on
the woman, who appears to be sleeping, on the Promenade des Anglais
beach in Nice, southern France.
The woman, who was wearing a traditional
headscarf and matching top, was spoken to by the officers, who have been
tasked with implementing the ban. France prides itself on its secular
society and the burka is banned. That has now spread to the burkini
A police officer appears to write out an on-the-spot
ticket and fine for the woman. Nice and Cannes are among several French
towns to have introduced a 38 euro (£32) fine.
The woman is then ordered to remove the blue
garment. Most of the other people on the beach on a sweltering summer’s
day were wearing trunks or bikinis
Another young Muslim mother was ordered off the beach at Cannes and fined for simply wearing a headscarf.
Three armed officers pointed a pepper
spray canister in the 34-year-old’s face and told her she was in breach
of a new rule outlawing swimming costumes that cover the entire body.
She 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.
It was the latest in a series of incidents
in the south of France and comes after video emerged of armed
police waiting for Muslim women to come out of the sea at nearby Nice,
and then warning them about their choice of headscarves.
And just days ago, four women were fined 38 euros for wearing their burkinis on the beach in Cannes.
Video has emerged of armed police waiting for
Muslim women to come out of the sea at nearby Nice, and then warning
them about their choice of headscarves
Four women were fined 38 euros for wearing their burkinis on the beach in Cannes
The women were told to pay a fine for wearing the swimwear on a beach in Cannes
Pictures show the women standing in the water before they were fined.
Identified only as Siam, the mother is a
former air-hostess from Toulouse whose family members have been French
citizens for at least three generations. ‘I wasn’t even planning to
swim, just to dip my feet,’ said Siam, who was wearing leggings, a top,
and a headscarf.
All of the items of clothing made Siam feel comfortable, and meant she was not exposed to the afternoon sun last Tuesday.
What she was not fully aware of, however,
was that Cannes was one of a small number of towns that have banned the
burkini for its alleged links to terrorism.
The beachwear does not cover the face
either, and is worn by non-Muslims who want protection from the sun, but
critics claim it is provocative.
On Monday, in a separate incident, a woman was also fined for wearing a headscarf on a Nice beach
A Twitter user filmed the moment police asked the
woman in a purple top and grey headscarf to get out of the water and
fined her on the spot.
When asked why she was dressed
‘inappropriately’, Sian replied: ‘I didn’t know exactly what was going
on, I hadn’t really followed the controversy’.
Sian at first refused to undress or to leave the beach, saying: ‘My children were crying as they witnessed my humiliation’.
Mathilde Cusin, a journalist with the
France 4 TV channel who witnessed the entire incident, said: ‘I saw
three police officers watching the beach. One of them had his finger on
the trigger of his tear gas device, no doubt containing pepper.’
A young mother was ordered off Cannes beach and
fined on Tuesday for wearing a headscarf (file photo). She was not
wearing a burkini, which has recently been banned in Cannes.
Then Ms Cusin said the officers went for
Siam, was wearing ‘a simple hijab [a headscarf that does not cover the
face] around her hair’.
People then started shouting insults at Siam, telling her she was not welcome in France, and that she should ‘go home’.
Ms Cusin said: ‘It was pretty violent. I
had the impression of a pack going after a woman sitting on the ground,
crying with her daughter.’
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 burkini full-body swimsuit (left) designed for Muslim women is seen at a shopping mall in Kuala Lumpur
A Muslim businessman has pledged to pay fines imposed on women for wearing burkinis
‘I’m in the country of human rights. I see
no trace of the principles of liberty, equality and fraternity. I am
outraged that this could happen in France.’
David Lisnard, the right wing Republican
Party mayor of Cannes who introduced the burkini ban in the first place,
defended the police officers’ behaviour.
Mr Lisnard said all ‘beach dress that
ostentatiously shows a religious affiliation’ was unwelcome at a time
when France was a target for Islamic State. He said any dress that might
be linked with the terrorist group was offensive and risked provoking
people, so risking public order.
On the same day, video also emerged of
armed police waiting for Muslim women to come out of the sea at nearby
Nice, and then warning them about their choice of headscarves.
A photo taken in June 2015 shows two Muslim
women wearing Chador as they enjoy their time with other people on a
beach of Narbonne, southern France.
Feiza Ben Mohamed, secretary general of
the Federation of Muslims of the South of France, said ‘two young women
were made to leave the water by the police’ even though they were ‘not
wearing the burkini’.
The video, which was posted on Twitter,
shows children crying and shouting as the women are spoken to by the
officers. Ms Ben Mohamed has accused the French authorities of
‘shamefully mixing up terrorists with the wider Muslim community.’ She
said ‘this type of row is totally counterproductive and plays into
Isis’s hands.
‘It’s exactly what Isis want – the mayor
is doing their work for them. Isis seeks to make our young people
believe that they are excluded, stigmatised, and they will use such
examples in their recruitment drive.’
The incidents come after a Muslim businessman pledged to pay fines imposed on women for wearing burkinis.
A French court has upheld the ‘burkini
ban’ – ruling that the female swimwear was liable to cause offence and
to provoke people to violence.
But wealthy Rachid Nekkaz, born in
Villeneuve-Saint-Georges from Algerian immigrants, has said that he will
pay any penalties that Muslim women incur for wearing the outfits.
Rachid Nekkaz (pictured), born in
Villeneuve-Saint-Georges from Algerian immigrants, said that the burkini
ban is ‘unfair’. He’s pictured here in Algeria demonstrating against
the exploration of shale gas.
He believes that the ban is ‘unfair’.
He told CNN:
‘I decided to pay for all the fines of women who wear the burkini in
order to guarantee their freedom of wearing these clothes, and most of
all, to neutralize the application on the ground of this oppressive and
unfair law.’
The banning of the burkini in France, by the Administrative Tribunal in Nice, has been challenged by two human rights groups.
They argued that the ban on a garment that
does not cover the face was petty, and designed to spread hatred
against a small group of mainly Muslim mothers and grandmothers.
But judges said the ban in the resort of Villeneuve-Loubet was ‘necessary, appropriate and proportionate’.
They said the burkini was ‘liable to offend the religious convictions or non-convictions of other users of the beach.’
People sunbath and swim at a beach in Leucate, where the burkini is prohibited by an order of the mayor.
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