Demonstrators have staged an impromptu beach party complete with sand, deck chairs and a lobster-shaped lilo outside the French embassy in London to protest against burkini bans that have become law in many French coastal towns and cities.

Under the bemused gaze of the embassy’s armed police officers, some protesters sported burkinis – swimsuits that cover the wearer’s whole body, including her hair – or swimsuits, while others threw beach balls at the lunchtime protest.

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Shortly after midday, a van pulled up and deposited several sacks of sand, to the consternation of police officers. The 40 or so protesters set up deck chairs and brandished placards among a scrum of journalists.

CaoimheMc (@CaoimheMMC) #WearWhatYouWant protest in London best for kids and setting the bar high for the aesthetics of all future protests. pic.twitter.com/sKz9RLu1pi

Esmat Jeraj, a campaigner at Citizens UK and one of the protest’s organisers, said the argument that the burkini was a symbol of repression “needs to be turned on its head”. “A lot of women wear it by choice,” she said. “If the burkini enables women to go and sit on the beach and enjoy the sunshine, surely that should be encouraged. It helps ensure these women are no longer on the margins.”

Aina Khan (@ainakhan5) There's actual sand outside the Frenchembassy. Unfortunately for me, didn't bring my burkini today. #wearwhatyouwant pic.twitter.com/k7vuA4aA4D

The makeshift beach in Knightsbridge lasted little more than an hour before protesters started shovelling sand back into sacks. Protest organiser India Thorogood said they had hoped to leave the beach in place but the embassy had threatened criminal damages charges if it wasn’t all cleared away.

The burkini ban was a “misogynistic and Islamophobic” response to the recent terrorist attacks France had experienced, she added.

Several said they joined the protest after seeing photos on Wednesday that appeared to show a woman remove a long-sleeved top and leggings at the request of armed police officers who reportedly fined her on a beach in Nice. Another woman reported being reprimanded by police and given a ticket saying she had failed to wear “an outfit respecting good morals and secularism”.

Jenny Dawkins, a curate at the All Saints Church of England church in Peckham, said she had found the photos “genuinely chilling”. “If it was a nun sitting on the beach she wouldn’t be targeted in this way,” she said.

“The women are being identified because of their faith, because of the way they’re dressed.”



The protest was organised the previous day through Facebook, organisers and charity workers, Thorogood said. She said the photos from the Nice beach showed a “specifically Islamophobic attack” that had left her and some friends wanting to “send a message of solidarity” as well as calling on the French authorities to repeal the bans.

“It matters because it’s an opportunity for men to tell women what to do and it’s an example of Islamophobia, which is becoming more and more prevalent in our society.”

Fariah Syed, another of the protest’s organisers, said it had received “way more attention than I thought”. It was important that Muslim women had played a visible role in the demonstration, added Syed, who is Muslim.

“The thing is with Muslim women, they are often perceived as feeble and weak and not having a voice of their own. We wanted to show the world that we do have a voice, and we can use it.”

The London mayor, Sadiq Khan, who is a Muslim, condemned the ban while on a visit to Paris. “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,” he told the Evening Standard.

Amnesty UK (@AmnestyUK) Our bodies, our clothes, our choice. We stand with the women targeted by the #BurkiniBan. #WearWhatYouWant pic.twitter.com/fJG8UOhLID

“I don’t think it’s right. I’m not saying we’re perfect yet, but one of the joys of London is that we don’t simply tolerate difference, we respect it, we embrace it, and we celebrate it.”

Cannes, Nice and about 15 other seaside areas in south-east France have outlawed the clothing. Nice’s ban refers to clothing that “overtly manifests adherence to a religion at a time when France and places of worship are the target of terrorist attacks”. It and mentions the Bastille day attack in which a lorry ploughed through revellers, killing 85 people.

So far 24 women have been stopped by police in Nice alone since the ban entered force, the Guardian reported. The row will reach France’s top administrative court, the council of state, on Thursday. Lawyers for the French Human Rights League will argue the rules are illegal.

Additional reporting by Elena Cresci