Two Muslim women marched out of swimming pool in French holiday village because they were wearing burkinis
 Two Muslim women wearing the specialised bathing suit have been banned from a public swimming pool in France
They jumped into the water wearing garments that covered their entire bodies, including veils over their heads.

The incident came ten days after French MPs voted to outlaw the burka in public places.

The new law, which brands the garment 'an insult to the country's values', means women will be fined or jailed for hiding their faces in public.

The women at the Rives des Corbieres holiday camp in Port Leucate, southern France, were told the rules stated only swimming costumes may be worn in the water.

They were asked to either change into conventional bikinis or one-piece costumes or leave the swimming pool.

Police were then called to the drama on Wednesday after the husband of one of the women threatened the pool's lifeguard with a bowling ball.

A holiday camp spokesman said: 'The husbands became very irate that their wives were not allowed to swim with their bodies covered, and one of them threatened violence.

'Police were called and he eventually backed down. The two Muslim couples left the pool area and no charges were brought.'

Regional government official Marie-Paule Bardeche said: 'This is an issue stemming from the holiday centre's own regulations.

'They state men and women must wear ordinary swimwear for hygiene reasons. Men are not even allowed to wear long shorts in the water.'

Last year a Muslim woman was banned from wearing a burkini at a public swimming pool also for hygiene reasons.

She later failed in her bid to sue the council in the Paris suburb for discrimination.

Police have this year also stopped and fined two women for wearing a burka while driving because the garb impaired their field of vision.

Members of Afghan girls band Burka Band standing in front of the ruins of Kabul (file photo). The burka has a mesh mask that covers a woman's eyes so that every part of her is hidden

France has now become the second country in Europe after Belgium to outlaw Muslim veil that hides the face.

President Nicolas Sarkozy has already described the burka as a 'sign of debasement'.

His immigration minister Eric Besson called it 'a walking coffin'.

The law was passed with an almost total majority of 335 to one MPs in the Paris parliament last week.

It must now be rubber-stamped by the Senate in September and is expected to come into force by spring next year.

The law will create a new offence of 'incitement to cover the face for reasons of gender'.

It will state: 'No-one may wear in public places clothes that are aimed at hiding the face.'

Under the new rules, women who hide their faces and husbands who force them to do so will both face fines and jail terms.

Men can be fined up to £25,000 and jailed for a year for forcing their wives to wear a burka
.

Women will face a smaller fine of around £130 because they are 'often victims who are not given any choice', the law states.

Repeat offenders who persistently refused to pay their fines will be sent to prison.

If caught wearing a burka, a woman will not be 'unveiled' in the street but instead taken to a police station to be formally identified.

The law will also apply to Muslim tourists - including the thousands of wealthy Middle Eastern visitors to the French capital every year.

Penalties will not be imposed until the law has been in operation for six months, to allow burka-wearers to adapt to the ban.

The new law comes comes after a year of heated debate on burkas and niqabs that is growing in Europe, and mounting public tensions over the issue.

There is also widespread support for a similar ban in the Netherlands, while Switzerland recently voted to ban the construction of new minarets on mosques.

Spain recently rejected a ban on the burka, and there are calls for a similar ban in Britain.

France has already banned wearing any relgious garb such as veils, Jewish skullcaps and crucifixes in schools.

Only around 5,000 women among France's five million strong population, the largest in Europe, wear full Muslim face veils in public.

But despite widespread support for a full ban, their highest legal body the Council of State has warned any legislation could be overturned by European human rights laws.

A French Council of State spokesman said in March: 'There appears to be no legally unchallengeable justification for carrying out such a ban.'

Left-wing politicians across Europe have also warned that a law banning the burka could inflame tensions in Muslim communities.

And human rights group Amnesty International has voiced its strong opposition to countries banning the burka.

The organisation's Interim Secretary General Claudio Cordone said: 'A general ban on the wearing of full-face veils would violate the rights to freedom of expression and religion of those women who choose to express their identity or beliefs in this way.'

Al Qaeda terrorists have also vowed revenge on France if it banned the burka on its streets.

Leaders of Al Qaeda's North African network wrote on an Islamic extremist website: 'We will seek dreadful revenge on France by all means at our disposal, for the honour of our daughters and sisters.'