Pictures have emerged of French police approaching a sleeping woman on a Nice beach and ordering her to take her top off.

Officers carrying batons and pepper spray were enforcing a new ban on the burkini imposed in several areas of the country.

The woman was wearing a light blue head scarf and tunic, and was surrounded by sunbathers in bikinis.

The episode unfolded on the Promenade des Anglais beach, very near the area where the Bastille Day lorry attack occurred.

It is understood the woman was warned and fined, according to the Daily Mail.

Here how the events unfolded:


1) Officers in shorts approach the sleeping woman, as other beachgoers look on.


2) The officers, with batons on show, surround the woman, who is now awake.


3) The woman proceeds to take off her top.


4) The officers appear to explain to the woman why her top is against the law.


There have been ten women fined so far this summer as part of the enforcement of the new French law.

The penalty is 38 euros (Dh160).