British women told to swap 'unacceptable' burkini for a bikini in Portugal

Two British women were ordered to remove their burkinis and told to change into a bikini while on holiday in Albufeira, Portugal.

Portuguese hotel staff told Maryya Dean and her sister-in-law Hina that they were not permitted to wear burkinis as it was "not acceptable for the pool." The women were told they "must wear a bikini to follow Portuguese culture."

Dean, 36, said a pool maintenance worker made her nine-year-old daughter stand up and show her mother and aunt what they should be wearing, a regular swimming costume.

Dean said the incident left her entire family feeling "humiliated and disgusted."

"Given my cultural background I was wearing a burkini," 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."

"I was not allowed to wear swimming gear that I am comfortable in and that was actually made for women like me to wear," she said. "I keep thinking about it. We had to do a 'walk of shame' back to the apartment, it was disgusting. It was a very distressing experience for me and my family."

Dean described their swimwear as a three-quarter-length legging and an elbow-length top.

She said the pool staff were making them out to be criminals for wearing a 'covered swimsuit'.

"We were embarrassed as we came out of the pool with with four children and people were watching us like we'd committed a crime," she said.

Last year, several places in France banned women from wearing burkinis on the beach. The ban was suspended after France's highest administrative court ruled that it was illegal and violated women's fundamental liberties. The burkini is not banned in Portugal.