Armed French police have forced a woman on a beach in Nice to remove her clothing as part of a ban on the burkini. Thank god that armed men are there to protect us from women napping on the beach.
Photos have emerged of four police officers confronting a sleeping woman at a Nice beach on Tuesday, who then forced the woman to remove her clothing and issued her a fine. The woman was wearing a long sleeve blue tunic and a head scarf, yet the officers deemed the outfit to be inappropriate.
This comes after authorities in several French towns implemented a ban on the burkini, citing concerns over religious clothing, saying that the clothing 'overtly manifests adherence to a religion at a time when France and places of worship are the target of terrorist attacks'.
Nice is just one of fifteen French resorts to have banned the article of clothing, somehow believing that women relaxing at the beach and following their religion somehow constitutes a threat to the French people.
The 34 year old woman, who gave the press only her first name as Siam, said 'I was sitting on the beach with my family, I was wearing a classic headscarf. I had no intention of swimming.'
Witnesses to the incident have gone on to confirm that during the incident members of the public were shouting at Siam to 'go home' and cheering and applauding the police officers as they issued her with a fine. It is also being reported that her daughter was left in tears during the incident.
Despite the incident receiving a huge backlash from the public and on social media from people around the world the local mayor, Ange-Pierre Vivoni, who banned the garment to begin with, said that the ban is necessary to 'protect the population'.
I'm sorry, but this is where I go out on a rant about this subject now. I am simply astounded that this entire incident is being allowed to happen and that a country as apparently advanced as France thinks that banning women from wearing religious clothing is a good thing.
All of these people who are saying that it's wrong to wear this clothing, who are telling women what they can and can't wear, who are allowing armed police to force a woman to publicly strip are no better than the terrorists they claim to oppose. There is no difference between extremists with religion telling women they have to cover themselves and these people who are telling women that they have to uncover themselves.
The burkini is not a terrorist garment. It is not clothing of oppression. This woman who was fined for wearing it and forced to remove it was not being oppressed into wearing it, she chose to wear it to spend time at the beach. The burkini was not designed by terrorist, it was created by a woman to allow other women more freedom.
You are not fighting against terrorism and oppression by forcing women out of their clothing, you are engaging in terrorism and oppression. Your thiny veiled Islamophobia is showing France.
Amy.
xx
