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Australian lifeguard wearing the burqini -
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In France, a battle of the bathers has become a debate about religion, after a French female convert to Islam tried to wear a full length bathing suit to a swimming pool.
The woman says she is the victim of religious discrimination and segregation after wearing what is dubbed the 'Burqini' - the Islamic version of the bikini - to the pools in the Paris suburb of Emerainville.
The suit covers the wearer from top to toe, in accordance with
Muslim practises. She had bought the garment in Dubai.
The pool says baggy swimwear is banned for hygiene reasons, though
it allowed her to swim in the same suit back in July.
And the local mayor defended the decision saying the controversy
has nothing to do with the Islamic religion adding that the burqini
was not an Islamic swimsuit and there was nothing of the sort
mentioned in the Quran, the Islamic holy book.
The burqini is growing in popularity around the world with life guards in Australia donning a yellow and red version.
The Islamic bathing suit was created by Aheda Zanetti, an Australian citizen, and launched in 2003 to allow Muslim women to swim and compete in sport without having to expose their bodies.
Zanetti says she is not surprised by the reaction of the French to the burqini, saying she has experienced some resisting in launching the garment in officially secular France.
The French woman was not wearing the burqini created by Zanetti's Sydney swimwear company Ahiida, but a copy of the Ahiida design.
France is home to Europe's biggest Muslim minority.
The pool ban comes as French president Nicolas Sarkozy have set up a special panel of 32 MPs to consider whether a law should be enacted to bar Muslim women from wearing the full veil, the burqa or niqab.
