A social experiment aimed at ridiculing the controversial ban on burkinis in France has struck a chord across the Internet, garnering over 200,000 views in just two days.
Actors dressed as a police officer (played by a performer named Light) and a burkini-wearing beachgoer (played by Amina Maz) hit the sand in Essex, U.K. to re-enact the images of officers in France fining and ordering women to take off layers of their burkinis.
READ MORE: France’s top court strikes down burkini ban
“You look like a terrorist. Take it off, please,” the “officer” says in the video, motioning to the woman’s head.
When the woman refuses to remove anything, the “officer” responds, “I’m afraid you’re wearing it because you’re oppressed. So I’m here to un-oppress you.”
“I don’t feel oppressed at all,” she responds.
Three minutes into the confrontation the man attempts to pull off the woman’s head covering and a pair of women step in to defend her.
“You can’t do that!” they exclaim. “It’s not what terrorists wear. She’s obviously a Muslim. You can’t discriminate her against her religion.”
READ MORE: People share photos of nuns on the beach in response to burkini ban in France
Soon a crowd gathers around them before it’s revealed that the entire scene was a set-up.
“We’re making a social experiment, to show how silly it is in France,” the cameraman says.
Although many came to the defense of the actor dressed in the burkini, the controversy continues to divide France.
France’s highest court struck down the burkini ban in the resort town of Villeneuve-Loubet last week, and it’s expected to trickle down and affect all French towns with similar bans. However some French mayors have said they’d refuse to lift the ban on the body-covering swimwear.
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