The results of the survey by Ifop, the French Institute of Public Opinion, published on Sunday showed that 24 percent of those who identify themselves as Muslims support the wearing of the burqa and niqab, full-face veils that were banned in public six years ago.
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Alshelh called on a local Muslim woman for assistance as she offered to answer questions from the locals about why she chooses to wear a burkini and understand their objections to her choice of swimwear. Images emerged of one women being forced to remove her burkini by four policemen carrying guns.
Zeynab Alshelh, a 23-year-old medical student from Sydney, chose to fly to Europe to show support for Muslim women after 30 cities in the country banned full-length swimwear following the Nice terror attacks in July, MailOnline reported.
In August, France’s highest court suspended the burkini bans declaring the swimsuit’s prohibition an “illegal violation of fundamental freedoms”.
‘There shouldn’t be a connection between terrorism and the burkini and there shouldn’t be a connection between terrorism and Islam altogether, ‘ Ms Alshelh said.
“I just wanted to see it for myself, I wanted to see what is going on here – why is this happening – I want to speak to the girls who have gone through this kind of stuff”, she said.
A keen sportswoman, Alshelh, began wearing a burka at the age of 10.
Lawyers for two human rights groups challenged the legality of the ban to the top court, saying the orders infringed basic freedoms and that mayors had overstepped their powers by telling women what to wear on beaches, the Associated Press reported.
The burkini was invented in 2004 by an Australian designer named Aheda Zanetti.
In an attempt to show solidarity, Ms Alshelh and her mother donned blue burkinis for a day out on the French Riviera with her father. “Why would they ban something when I designed a swimsuit that was part of integration within Australian lifestyle?” “It is a symbol of my faith, it is a symbol of my religion, it is a symbol of Islam and to go out there and wear the hijab, it helps people focus on what’s inside rather than what’s outside”.
Alshelh said she was deeply concerned that the burkini ban was just the beginning of discrimination against Muslims: “It starts off at the beach, and God knows where it ends”. ‘It’s hard to be proud of a country who rejects you and whose laws allow the general public to discriminate against you. So who is better, the Taliban or French politicians?
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“I think they have misunderstood a garment that is so positive ― it symbolizes leisure and happiness and fun and fitness and health and now they are demanding women get off the beach and back into their kitchens?”
