Hotel Berates Woman for Not Wearing Bikini

A British family say they were left “humiliated” after being banned from wearing burkinis in the swimming pool while on holiday in Portugal.

Maryya Dean and her sister-in-law Hina claim they were told they “must wear a bikini to follow Portuguese culture” before being out thrown out by hotel staff.

The 36-year-old mum from Chessington, London also accused a maintenance worker at the pool in Albufeira of using her nine-year-old daughter, who was wearing a swimming costume, as an example of what she should be wearing.

“The man started making cultural references and said that Portuguese people wear bikinis and so should we,” she told the Mirror Online. “I was compared to my nine-year-old daughter who was told to stand up out of the pool to see what she was wearing which I found completely rude. I was told I should wear that to swim.”

Ms Dean said the whole thing humiliating. “We were embarrassed as we came out of the pool with four children and people were watching us like we’d committed a crime.” Ms Dean was on a week-long holiday with her four children, sister-in-law and other relatives when she was forced to defend her choice to wear a covered swim suit in the Algarve. Her sister-in-law said the pair were wearing a three quarter length top and leggings, which were waterproof, for “religious, cultural, confidence and comfort reasons”.

Burkinis is a type of modesty swimsuit for women which cover the entire body apart from the face. Last year many places in France banned women from wearing burkinis on the beach.

In May, Austria became the latest European country to make it illegal for women to wear burkas in public despite huge controversy. MPs approved the ban on full-face veils among a series of measures aimed at integrating migrants —including compulsory language lessons.