An Australian woman was forced off a beach in France, after some people protested against her wearing a "burkini", a full-body swimsuit that the country has banned, on the French Riviera, Reuters reported on Tuesday. Zeynab Alshelh reportedly travelled to France to show her support for French Muslims campaigning to get the ban on the swimsuit lifted. She said she had brought several burkinis, designed in French national colours, to distribute there.
A person at the beach allegedly threatened to call the police to force Alshelh and her mother, who were dressed in burkinis, off the beach. Alshelh said the experience was “upsetting and unfair”. She said, “They were not happy with us being there. They are seeing something that is not there." Reuters said Australia’s Channel Seven showed a woman giving Alshelh’s family a thumbs down, but that the channel did not respond to a request for a comment on the footage aired.
A court in Nice had declared a ban on the burkini citing that it posed a “threat to public order”. Nice was one of the 30 towns, where right-wing groups are active, to ban the swimwear. An attack claimed by the Islamic State, that killed 86 people in Nice recently, and several attacks by extremist militants in the country has sparked a debate in France.
Aheda Zanetti, the designer of the burkini, which is often worn by Muslim women, said there was an increase in the demand for the outfit after the French towns banned it. She questioned why something that was part of an integration effort in Australia should be banned.
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