Lebanon bathing suit row triggers women-led beach protest

SIDON, Lebanon: Lebanese activists protested on Sunday at a beach in the coastal city of Sidon after a woman said she was harassed there over her allegedly indecent bathing suit, an AFP correspondent said.

Defying a municipality ban on their demonstration, dozens of protesters, mostly women, gathered briefly in the conservative city, the correspondent said.

“We have all come to support women´s right to be in public spaces, whether in a bikini or a burkini,” said Diana Moukalled, a journalist and women´s rights activist.

“Public spaces don´t just belong to certain people as a function of their beliefs, but to everyone. It´s a constitutional right,” she told AFP. In last week´s incident, a group of conservative religious Muslims reportedly assailed a bather and her husband at the public beach in Sidon, accusing them of not respecting local norms due to the woman´s attire.