The France burkini row has deepened after claims that photos of a Muslim woman forced to remove her swimwear by armed police on a beach were staged.

French politicians and media questioned the controversial incident in Nice on Tuesday and asked why the woman was lying down on a beach with no towel, book or parasol in the full glare of the midday sun near a police post - with a photographer nearby.

They are fears France's controversial burkini ban, which began in Cannes, may be leapt upon as a propaganda tool by Islamic extremists.

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Four French police officers close in on the woman, who appears to be sleeping, on the Promenade des Anglais beach in Nice, southern France

The woman, who was wearing a traditional headscarf and matching top, was spoken to by the officers, who have been tasked with implementing the ban

French Socialist politician Julien Dray said: 'You don't need to be a genius to know what happened. I am suspicious. She is near a police post. She does not seem to want to sunbathe because she is covered up, but she does not have a parasol, either.

'Who sent a photographer to that spot to take those pictures. By whom? To what end? Hardly had they gone online than they went round the world, notably in the Middle East media.'

She was alone without a thing under the burning sun. The trap worked. There is manipulation. Olivier Siou, political editor of TV station France 2

'These images seem to have been prepared. If this is true, it is very serious.

'That would confirm that people are deliberately try to damage the unity of our country and our freedoms.'

Laurent Bouvet, founder of the political magazine Printemps Republicain, said: 'Why, when there is a ban on that type of dress on the beach, should she place herself right in the middle without any accessories like a bag or towel and stretched out on very uncomfortable pebbles?'

Olivier Siou, political editor of TV station France 2, went on: 'People are getting indignant about these photos, but not about the obvious provocation.

'She was alone without a thing under the burning sun. The trap worked. There is manipulation.'

'I am suspicious. She does not seem to want to sunbathe because she is covered up, but she does not have a parasol, either,' says French Socialist politician Julien Dray.

'She was alone without a thing under the burning sun. The trap worked. There is manipulation,' said Olivier Siou, political editor of TV station France 2.

Police in Nice, scene to the horror lorry terror attack in which 84 people were murdered on Bastille Day, have issued 24 fines for violating the city's ban on 'inappropriate clothing' since the ban was introduced.

There has been an international backlash against France since the burkini fine pictures were published, with officers being labelled as 'fascist' for enforcing the crackdown.

Another young Muslim mother was ordered off the beach at Cannes and fined for simply wearing a headscarf.

Three armed officers pointed a pepper spray canister in the 34-year-old's face and told her she was in breach of a new rule outlawing swimming costumes that cover the entire body.

The woman, known only as Siam, a former air stewardess from Toulouse, said the 'racist' officers simply wanted to humiliate her in front of her children and other family members, even though she was not actually wearing a burkini.

There are fears that the incident could have been set up to inflame tensions between Muslims and non Muslims.

The city's former mayor Christian Estrosi, defended the force but also questioned the motivation behind the photographs: 'I denounce what seems like a manipulation that undermines the local police, and puts the officers at risk.

'Already, complaints have been filed to prosecute those who spread the photographs of our municipal police officers and those uttering threats against them on social networks.'

French officials today insisted that the incident was real - with officers patrolling the entire beach - and denied claims that there was any kind of set up.

In a separate incident, video has emerged of armed police waiting for Muslim women to come out of the sea at nearby Nice, and then warning them about their choice of headscarves

Four women were fined 38 euros for wearing their burkinis on the beach in Cannes - a total of 30 areas in France have now issued rules about the burkini

Cannes on the French Riviera first introduced a ban on the all over swimsuit and women risk a £32 fine. Pictured: A fully covered woman goes paddling at Fort Mahon in northern France

A city council spokesman said the four officers had 'fulfilled their duties' when they gave the woman a fine and ordered her from the pebbles.

'The woman was pretty much asleep when they approached her – the idea that she somehow forced them to approach her is fantasy,' said one.

'She wasn't even wearing a burkini, she just had a tunic and headdress on which might have been considered inappropriate.'

This picture was certainly not staged, as some people have alleged. The freelancer witnessed the scene, which took place at 11am on Tuesday and lasted roughly 10 minutes. Best Image agency

A spokesman for the Paris-based Best Image agency which distributed the pictures, said they were taken by a freelancer who 'happened to be on the beach at the time.'

He said: 'This picture was certainly not staged, as some people have alleged. The freelancer witnessed the scene, which took place at 11am on Tuesday and lasted roughly 10 minutes.

'The woman was issued with a fine and left the beach a few minutes later. That is all the photographer was able to see.'

'The woman was pretty much asleep when they approached her – the idea that she somehow forced them to approach her is fantasy,' said a Nice official. Pictured: A woman shields from the sun under a parasol in Marseille, where a ban has been in place since the start of August

London mayor Sadiq Khan attacked France’s ‘burkini ban’: I don’t think anyone should tell women what they can and can’t wear.' Pictured: Women in burkas cooling off at Camber Sands

Earlier this week, four women were fined 38 euros for wearing their burkinis on the beach in Cannes

France’s highest administrative appeal court is considered an application to have the ban on the burkini made illegal. Pictures: Women standing in the water before they were fined

Nice Matin newspaper accused British agency Vantage News of staging the pictures alongside Best Image, which was vehemently denied by company owner Joe Sene.

'It was categorically not a set up,' he told MailOnline.

The row over the Nice photos is the latest in a series of incidents in the south of France and comes after video emerged of armed police waiting for Muslim women to come out of the sea at nearby Nice, and then warning them about their choice of headscarves.

Earlier this week, four women were fined 38 euros for wearing their burkinis on the beach in Cannes.

Cannes first introduced a ban on the all over swimsuit worn by some Muslim women. Women wearing 'inappropriate' swimwear risk a £32 fine.

On Thursday, London mayor Sadiq Khan attacked the ban as other opponents accused it of inciting ‘racist and sexist’ attacks against Muslim women.

Before a visit to Paris – his first overseas since taking office – Mr Khan said: ‘I’m quite firm on this.

‘I don’t think anyone should tell women what they can and can’t wear. Full stop. It’s as simple as that.’

Protest: There were also demonstrations against the ban in London, where around 50 people faked a beach party outside the French Embassy involving women wearing burkinis

Protesters carried banners with slogans such as the ‘Burkini ban is racist’ and ‘Islamophobia is not freedom’

On Monday, a Twitter user filmed the moment police asked the woman in a purple top and grey headscarf to get out of the water and fined her on the spot

Anne Hidalgo, his counterpart in the French capital, also called for an end to the burkini ‘hysteria’.

But former President Nicolas Sarkozy waded into the debate, saying it was time to end the presence of burkinis on French beaches.

'Wearing a burkini is a political act, it's militant, a provocation,' he said in an interview with Figaro to be published today.

'If we do not put an end to this, there is a risk that in 10 years, young Muslim girls who do not want to wear the veil or burkini will be stigmatised and peer-pressured.'

Today, the Council of State, France’s highest administrative appeal court, considered an application to have the ban on the burkini made illegal. It is expected to deliver a verdict on Friday or early next week.

It is being asked to judge the verdict of a lower court which ruled that the burkini was 'liable to offend the religious convictions or non-convictions of other users on the beach'.

Two human rights groups have argued that the ban on a garment that does not cover the face was petty, and designed to spread hatred against a small group of mainly Muslim mothers and grandmothers.

There have been demonstrations against the ban in London, where around 50 people faked a beach party outside the French Embassy involving women wearing burkinis.

Protesters carried banners with slogans such as the ‘Burkini ban is racist’ and ‘Islamophobia is not freedom’.



