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Startling photos of French police ordering a woman to remove clothing to enforce the burkini ban on a beach in Nice have gone viral.
Nice implanted the ban in the wake of the recent terrorist attacks in the country, banning clothing that “overtly manifests adherence to a religion at a time when France and places of worship are the target of terrorist attacks”, reports the Guardian.
The images of three officers standing over a woman as she is forned to remove her clothing have sparked outrage.
Anouar Kbibech, the president of the Council of the Muslim Faith (CFCM), said he was “concerned over the direction the public debate is taking”, citing the “growing fear of stigmatisation of Muslims in France”.
Kbibech has requested an urgent meeting with French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve, reports Nine News.
This is the second incident in a matter of days, with a 34-year-old mother also fined on a Cannes beach for not wearing “an outfit respecting good morals and secularism”.
“I was sitting on a beach with my family,” she told The Guardian. “I was wearing a classic headscarf. I had no intention of swimming.”
“The saddest thing was that people were shouting ‘go home’, some were applauding the police,” added Mathilde Cousin, who witnessed the scene. “Her daughter was crying.”
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