Burkini-wearing Australian woman forced off French Riviera beach

A woman has spoken of being forced to leave a beach in France for wearing a burkini.

Zeynab Alshelh, 23, said she travelled to the country to show solidarity with local Muslim women.

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She and her mother wore the full body swimsuits on the beach at Villeneuve-Loubet, where the French burkini ban has been overturned.

As they sat on the sand, locals said they would call the authorities if they did not leave.

Speaking to Australia's Channel Seven, the medical student said: "We were threatened by locals to leave the beach and if we didn't they were going to call the police. They weren't happy with us being there, even though it was on the beach that the burkini ban was overturned but the locals were not happy."

Zeynab, who was shocked, added: "It starts off at the beach and God knows where it ends,' Zeynab said. 'It's hard to be proud of a country who rejects you and whose laws allow the general public to discriminate against you."

Video footage aired on Channel Seven showed beachgoers gesturing at Zeynab, while a man was seen threatening to call the police.

She told BBC's Newsday that she and her mother left as they did not want to cause trouble.

"At least in Australia, even though there is some racism here and there, but the government does not say that it is okay to be racist towards anyone," she said in her interview with Channel Seven's Sunday Night.

"It's absurd, it's dangerous, it is a fight against diversity."