Ten women including young mothers and grandmothers have become the first to be criminalised for wearing burkinis on a French beach, it emerged today.

All were reprimanded by police officers in the Riviera resort of Cannes, and forced to leave the sand.

Four were fined the equivalent of £32, while all received 'warnings' that will now technically form part of their criminal records.

Ten women including young mothers and grandmothers have become the first to be criminalised for wearing burkinis on a French beach. Pictured is a model wearing a burkini

Muslim groups reacted with horror to the development, which followed the Mayor of Cannes imposing a so-called 'burkini ban' at the end of last week.

David Lisnard claimed the all-over swimsuits threatened to provoke people because of the number of terrorist attacks being carried out by Islamic State

But opponents said there was no link whatsoever between the garments - which do not cover the face - and political violence.

Muslim groups reacted with horror to the development, which followed the Mayor of Cannes imposing a so-called 'burkini ban'. A model wearing a burkini

Instead they said Mr Lisnard, a member of the right wing Republican Party, was stirring up Islamophobia.

A local council source in Cannes said the ten women were 'dealt with' under the new regulations over the past four days.

Aged from 29 to 57, all were accompanied by children, and some had been wearing the garments while swimming in the sea. '

They are young mothers or grandmothers, and they do not believe they are criminals,' said the source.

'All were very upset at the way they were treated.'

The new official ruling reads that 'access to beaches and for swimming is banned to anyone who does not have bathing apparel that respects good customs and secularism.'

It has already been replicated in two other seaside resorts in France, and others are set to follow suit.

The ban of the garments on the French island of Corsica came after a violent clash between North Africans and locals which saw a man harpooned for taking a picture of women wearing the garments.

Manuel Valls, the country's Prime Minister, has meanwhile attacked the burkini for 'not being compatible with the values of France and the Republic.'

Cannes was the first resort in France to ban the garments from their beach, pictured, and two other towns have also followed with their own bans

But the Collective against Islamophobia in France (CCIF) has filed a complaint about the bans with the Council of State, Paris's highest administrative court.

CCIF spokesman Marwan Muhammad said: 'This summer we are witnessing a hysterical political Islamophobia that pits citizens against one another.'

Last month a man linked to ISIS killed 85 people using a lorry in Nice, which is 20 miles from Cannes.