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A village in Corsica has banned ‘burkinis’ following a beach fight between North African families and local youths.

Hatchets and harpoons were used in the brawl in Sisco according to witnesses, as tensions grow on the French Mediterranean island.

Five people were injured but have since been discharged from hospital, while a special council session was called on Sunday to impose the ban.

It comes after authorities in the popular seaside resorts of Cannes and Villenueve-Loubet also outlawed ‘burkinis’ – a swimsuit used by Muslim women to keep themselves covered.

Tensions have been high between local communities and Muslims from North Africa this summer, particularly since the massacre of 85 people by a Muslim lorry driver in Nice in July.

Sisco’s socialist mayor Ange-Pierre Vivoni said his decision had “nothing to do with racism, it’s about protecting people’s security.”

He claimed the ban was aimed at protecting the area’s Muslims.

The justice authorities have launched an investigation into exactly what happened in the beach incident.

It reportedly began when tourists and local teenagers started taking photos of the Muslim families, who objected.

Stones and bottles were thrown as the brawl broke out, with some 40 men from the village soon arriving to defend the youths, one with a harpoon blade.