A waitress in a cafe in central Nice has filed a police complaint after she was allegedly assaulted by two men because she refused to “stop serving alcohol” on the first day of the holy month of Ramadan.

The alleged beating in the French Riviera town historically famed for its sun, palm-fringed beach front and quality of life, has prompted a heated political debate over whether the country is increasingly becoming prey to “religious fundamentalism and ghettoised communities”.

The issue has become increasingly fraught less than a year before presidential elections and just six months after Islamist attacks in Paris killed 130.