Summary The couple refused to pay the fine to fund 'cleaning costs' of the pool. Photo: AFP
(Web Desk) – In a repetition of recent events in France, a burkini-clad woman who took a swim in a communal pool has reportedly been fined to fund the ‘cleaning costs’ of the facility.
According to The Independent, the woman named Fadila, had decided to go for a dip at the private residence she was renting with her family near Marseille in the south of France. However, she was slapped with a cleaning fine for entering the pool in her burkini.
According to the news report, when the woman entered the water a member of staff allegedly told everyone else to leave the pool. The owner later called her husband and asked him to stop her from swimming for the remainder of their stay, further allegedly having told the couple that they will have to bear the expense of the pool being emptied and cleaned. They were allegedly asked to pay damages covering cost of two days the pool was not in use. The damages equated to €490.
The couple refused to pay the bill, but the owner allegedly removed the fine from their account without producing an invoice.
“I was stunned because no one stopped me or said anything at all,” Fadila told the charity United Against Islamophobia in France (CCIF). “I was disappointed, shocked, wounded by the fact that someone could be so hypocritical and wicked because of a burkini.” CCIF said Fadila’s burkini could not have caused a hygiene issue as the swimsuits are specifically adapted for swimming.
Last summer, fines were imposed on women wearing burkinis in the southern French town of Cannes. Similarly, earlier this week, two British women were left humiliated after being told to leave a private swimming pool in Portugal because they were both wearing burkinis.
This latest incident comes in despite the fact that France’s highest administrative court has ruled that ‘burkini bans’ being enforced on the country’s beaches were illegal and a violation of fundamental liberties.
