Yahoo Finance French Mother 'Horrified' By Order To Remove Headscarf On Beach
A mother-of-two has told Sky News she was horrified when French police ordered her to remove her headscarf while she was on the beach.
The woman had gone to the beach in Cannes, and said she was given a verbal warning when she refused to remove the headscarf.
It comes after photos emerged from nearby Nice, appearing to show officers enforcing a "burkini ban" on the beach there.
Muslim leaders in France are holding an urgent meeting with the government after the pictures went viral.
Nice and Cannes are among a number of French towns which have banned all-body swimsuits on secular grounds following recent terror attacks.
The 34-year-old mother cautioned in Cannes, who gave her name as Siam, said she had gone to the beach with her children.
She told Sky News: "We were stopped by three police officers and they read out a decree that had been set up by the Mayor of Cannes, relating to what I was wearing, which apparently was not right."
She said police told her to remove her headscarf and wear it as a bandana.
"I refused to do that so I was given a verbal warning on the beach because of that," she said.
"I am horrified by what happened. I'm horrified also by the behaviour of people around us.
"There were some people that were supporting us, but there were other people who applauded the police officers and began insulting us and we were shocked."
The French Council of the Muslim Faith (CFCM) says it is "concerned over the direction the public debate is taking".
It is to take the issue up with Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve.
"We have seen images of police officers forcing a woman on a Nice beach to remove her tunic when she wasn't even wearing a burkini," said the statement from the CFCM.
"With the difficult and critical situation France is facing after the tragic attacks which deeply affected the country, the CFCM calls for wisdom and responsibility from everyone. Today, we need more acts of peace and tolerance."
On Thursday, France's highest administrative court, the State Council, will examine a request by the Human Rights League to scrap the bans on "burkinis" adopted by up to 15 towns and cities across the country.
The ban in Nice was brought in last week.
It refers specifically to the truck attack in the city on 14 July that claimed 86 lives, as well as the murder 12 days later of a Catholic priest near the city of Rouen.
