A 60-year-old female lawyer ripped a Muslim woman's Islamic veil off during a row in what French police described as the first known case of 'burqa rage'.
The astonishing scene unfolded in a clothes shop in France when the pair came to blows before being arrested.
It came as racial tensions grow over of the country's plans to introduce a total ban on burqas and other forms of religious dress which cover the face.
The 26-year-old Muslim convert was walking through the store in Trignac, near Nantes, in the western Loire-Atlantique region, when she overhead the lawyer making 'snide remarks about her black burqa'.
A police officer added: 'The lawyer said she was not happy seeing a fellow shopper wearing a veil and wanted the ban introduced as soon as possible.'
At one point the lawyer, who was out with her daughter, is said to have likened the Muslim woman to Belphegor - a horror demon character well known to French television viewers.
The lawyer's use of the name 'Belphegor' was particularly inflammatory, said police, because the demon was portrayed by classical writers as 'Hell's ambassador to France'.
Belphegor, who hates human beings, is usually portrayed as a monstrous demon with horns and pointed nails, but frequently disguises himself.
During a period in Paris, Belphegor was said to live with a group of vampires in the Louvre.
Police said the incident was still being investigated, and that charges could follow.
Neither woman has yet been named.
A 'shouting argument' started in the store before the older woman is said to have ripped the other woman's veil off. - Daily Mail