After the headscarf, a burkini is creating ripples in France.
A 35-year-old woman was banned from bathing in her "burkini", a head-to-toe swimsuit in France, says a report in Times.
The woman, identified only as Carole, was making her third outing in a burkini to the town pool at Emerainville, on the eastern outskirts of Paris, when a lifeguard ordered her to leave.
The report said she was reportedly breaking hygiene rules, but her ejection has become the latest episode in a battle between Muslims and a state that has banned head-cover from schools.
Carole accused the pool officials of illegal discrimination and went straight to the police and the media, the report said.
"Quite simply, this is segregation," she said. "I will fight to try to change things. And if I see that the battle is lost, I cannot rule out leaving France."
Carole, who was born in a traditional French family and converted to Islam at the age of 17, said she bought her attire on holiday in Dubai.
The burkini, designed by Aheda Zanetti, a Lebanese-Australian, has become a hit in the Middle East and caused trouble in public pools in Europe and North America.
Despite the allusion to the Afghan burka, the swimsuit leaves the face uncovered. The body is clad in a track-suit-like tunic and coat and the head and neck are covered with a cross between a hijab and a diver's balaclava helmet, the report says.
