Featured image credit: Twitter/@thepooluk
A Muslim woman was ordered to remove her burkini while she slept on a beach in southern France and it has sparked a businessman to offer to pay for the penalties incurred by any women for a similar 'offence'.
The incident happened after authorities in several French towns controversially implemented bans on the burkini, which covers the body and head, expressing concerns about religious clothing in the wake of recent terrorist attacks in the country.
The police officers, who were armed with guns, batons and pepper spray, approached the woman in front of a crowed beach on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice, close to where the Bastille Day lorry attack happened.
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She appears to remove a blue long-sleeved tunic.
The 34-year-old woman, first name Siam, appeared to have been given a £32 on-the-spot-fine, reports the Metro.
"I wasn't even planning to swim, just to dip my feet [in the sea]," said Siam, who is a former air hostess.
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However, a businessman of Algerian descent has come forward to say that he will pay the penalties that women incur for wearing burkinis.
Image credit: Facebook/Rachid Nekkaz
Rachid Nekkaz, a wealthy Algerian entrepreneur and human rights activist, 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."
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Preventing women from wearing burkinis in public is almost as bad as proposing to build a huge wall to keep Mexicans out of America in the eyes of some.
I get that the nation is on edge following the number of terrorist attacks, but will this only widen the divide between Islam and other religions?
Words: Hamish Kilburn
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