We got the Dominican actress Tuesday in Los Angeles and our photog asked her about her incident with the Cannes security guard -- which, as we all saw, got a little testy ... not to mention handsy.

Massiel tells us she was just trying to get a photo of her dress, the one with a huge image of Jesus Christ, when the security guard intervened ... rushing her along up the stairs.

The way Massiel sees it ... the security guard didn't want her to share the religious message with the media (and the world, presumably) and stepped in aggressively.

Massiel says she knew she had to stand her ground on this issue, so she fought back. Remember, their scuffle played out in front of other celebs and tons of cameras.

After the skirmish, Massiel says she was told she could not go inside the main room, and instead was shuffled off to a balcony ... where she says she was able to get the picture that led to the whole hullabaloo in the first place.

Massiel's foe is the same woman who had beef with Kelly Rowland, South Korean singer/actress Yoona and Ukranian model Sawa Pontyjska. Kelly says race was an issue and Sawa says she's going to sue ... as for Massiel, she's here to push her faith.

Like she says to us here ... the security guard could learn a thing or two from Jesus' teachings -- and she even questions where the Cannes security team's moral allegiance lies.