A gang of French Muslims have been accused of assaulting a group of British women holidaymakers at a popular Spanish tourist resort.

One of the women, a 19-year-old from Farnborough in Hampshire, suffered a broken nose after being punched in the face.

A second woman, a 20-year-old from Essex, was taken to hospital semi-conscious with arm and head injuries.

Witnesses described how the men, French-born but of Arabic origin, began to attack the young women in the upmarket resort of Puerto Banus near Marbella after one tried to touch up the teenager who suffered the broken nose.

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Puerto Banus is an upmarket resort with a large yacht marina (pictured) and the incident is out of character with the area

A 22-year-old man was arrested for assault and three of his friends were taken to a nearby police station where they were lined up in an identity parade.

Police are thought to be trying to identify other men involved in the incident who are said to have fled as officers arrived.

The incident happened just before 6am on Tuesday morning in a road running behind Puerto Banus, named Julio Iglesias Avenue after the veteran crooner.

Police intervened after spotting what a brawl involving 15 people.

Once they separated the two groups, they saw one of the women was bleeding profusely from her nose and another was lying semi-conscious on the ground.

A friend of the injured pair told officers one of the men punched the British teenager in the face after a row turned violent.

The men are understood to have travelled to the area from Seville.

The two British women were taken to a nearby health centre before being taken to the Costa del Sol Hospital for treatment.

They later made a formal complaint to police.

At this time of year Marbella, pictured, is teeming with British tourists

Today a witness took to social media to claim the men had kicked and punched the women as if they were fighting a gang of men.

He said: 'The group of (French) Arabs gave the English girls a real bashing.

'One of them wanted to speak to one of the women and the woman wasn't interested and told him to leave her alone.

'The son of a bitch began touching her up and putting his hands everywhere you could think of and her friends rushed over to defend her when they saw what was happening.

The women were getting a real kicking and then a British man who was nearby stepped in and put one of the men on the ground Eyewitness

'The idiot who started it all then punched the girl in the face and left her on the floor for three minutes with her face smashed in and her nose broken.

'After that it all kicked off and the men and their friends...began to hit and kick the women as if they were fighting with men.

'They were doing everything, even kickboxing. The women were getting a real kicking and then a British man who was nearby stepped in and put one of the men on the ground.'

But he said the police arrived just in time to prevent the have-a-go hero getting beaten up by the French gang.

Local police are understood to be preparing a report for national police who will now take over the investigation under the coordination of an investigating judge.