Latest news with #racialviolence
Al Jazeera
9 hours ago
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
In a first, France opens terror case for racist killing of Tunisian barber
On May 31, a Saturday, Hichem Miraoui was at his home in southeastern France on a video call with his sister Hanen, who lives nearby, and his mother in Tunisia. It was late morning in Puget-sur-Argens, his village near the French Riviera. Suddenly, Hanen heard him exclaim. The phone then dropped to the floor and the line went silent. Two hours later, Mouna Miraoui, his cousin, was at the Draguignan police station a few kilometres north, identifying his body. Miraoui had been shot five times and killed in what French investigators – in a first – are identifying as a possibly racially motivated act of domestic terrorism. 'It's a living hell, it's unbearable,' Mouna told Al Jazeera by phone. 'It was a shock for everyone. His sister fainted. Imagine if that day I had been invited to his house for dinner or a drink. I have young kids, what would have happened then?' French investigators have opened a terrorism investigation in the murder case in which another victim was injured. A man identified as Christophe Belgembe has been arrested. The suspect regularly reposted content from France's far-right National Rally party. He has admitted to shooting Miraoui but pleaded not guilty to the racially motivated nature of the crime. In several videos uploaded to Facebook, which have since been deleted, the suspect appeared to have congratulated himself for 'getting rid of 2-3 pieces of junk', the French news site 20 Minutes reported. According to one of Miraoui's sisters, Belgembe was well known among residents for his xenophobic views, in particular a 'hatred of Arabs'. Family members have told various media outlets that Miraoui, who was in his forties, had felt increasingly threatened by Belgembe, the legal owner of several guns as a member of a shooting sports club, in the days and weeks leading up to the alleged murder. A hairdresser who was close to his five sisters, Miraoui had been planning to return to Tunisia to visit his sick mother for the first time in eight years. The alleged murder led to protests across France and brought to light what antiracism groups are calling an 'ambient climate' of anti-Arab hate and xenophobia. Between January and March of 2025, 79 Islamophobic hate crimes took place across France, an increase of more than 70 percent relevant to that same period in 2024, according to the latest statistics from France's interior minister. On Sunday, several thousand people gathered in the southern French city of Marseille and Miraoui's hometown to protest against rising hate crimes, raising signs reading 'racism has killed again' and 'rest in peace, Hichem'. 'Hichem's death is the fruit of an increasingly hardline atmosphere that has been rising for several months and years and that sets in a bit more every day,' the family's lawyer, Mourad Battikh, said in a statement. Over the past year, three men have been killed in what appear to be racially motivated hate crimes but Miraoui's is the first to be investigated by the National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor's Office, or PNAT. According to Zelie Heran, legal head of the antiracism watchdog SOS Racisme, the opening of a terrorism investigation means more resources and a potentially fast-tracked trial. She questioned why the PNAT had not been activated in other similar and recent cases. 'While we can certainly commend the [PNAT] for taking up this case because it is a case where there is a desire to disrupt public order and spread terror on the part of this person who encouraged others to kill foreigners, we can still be surprised and critical of the fact that this is the first time [they] have taken up this type of case,' said Heran. She suggested that French politicians, including Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau, have allowed a hateful climate to fester. Retailleau has previously repeated debunked claims about being 'flooded' by migrants and recently introduced a law to ban headscarves from public universities. This 'obsession with Islam and foreigners has translated into actions by the population', including the snatching of headscarves from women's heads and verbal abuse, Heran said. Statistics shared with Al Jazeera support these claims. In the first five months of 2025, SOS Racisme documented a 44 percent increase in calls to its anti-discrimination hotline compared with the same period a year ago. This rise is even sharper regarding anti-Arab and Islamophobic incidents, which have increased by 68 percent year on year. In some incidents, callers have described damage to property, including at mosques. In more urgent cases, physical violence has been reported. In April, Aboubakar Cisse, a Malian man in his early twenties, was stabbed 57 times as he prepared his mosque for prayer in La Grand-Combe, also in southern France. Though the attacker allegedly voiced a statement deemed incredibly offensive to Muslims as he killed Cisse, the crime is not being investigated as an act of terrorism but as a race-based assassination. The killing of Cisse followed the August 2024 murder of Djamel Bendjaballah, a Tunisian man who was run over by the driver of an SUV in a crime his family has tried, unsuccessfully, to qualify as a hate crime. The suspect was a member of a far-right survivalist group and the ex-husband of Bendjaballah's partner. On Wednesday, the body of Hichem Miraoui was returned to Tunisia – tragically reuniting him with his ailing mother. Mouna Miraoui hopes that his death will be a catalyst for change. She wears a headscarf and said that she no longer feels safe in France. 'I get the feeling that there's a generalised hatred that's building,' she told Al Jazeera. 'We expect justice to be done. We expect this man's conviction to set an example for everyone, so that people don't think this is normal and trivialise it.' Heran, at SOS Racisme, said, 'All we can do is call for awareness of the urgency for antiracist rhetoric and the implementation of policies to curb this phenomenon on the part of politicians, the media and citizens.'
Irish Times
2 days ago
- Irish Times
Disorder in Ballymena ‘clearly racially motivated', PSNI says
Significant and sustained 'disorder' in Ballymena on Monday night was 'clearly racially motivated', the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) has said. Four houses were damaged by fire during the violence that erupted in the Clonavon Terrace area following a peaceful protest over an alleged sexual assault in the Co Antrim town. The PSNI confirmed that 15 officers were injured, with some requiring hospital treatment, after being targeted with petrol bombs, bricks and masonry. Local MP and TUV leader Jim Allister said tensions had been growing in the area over immigration and described the unrest as 'very distressing'. READ MORE Two 14-year-old boys appeared in court on Monday charged with attempted rape. The charges were read to the teenagers by a Romanian interpreter. Police and firefighters responded to public disorder in Ballymena town centre on Monday evening. Photograph: Pacemaker On Tuesday, a senior police officer said he wanted to condemn the disorder in 'the strongest possible terms' and confirmed that detectives are 'actively working to identify those responsible and bring them to justice'. A 29-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of riotous and disorderly behaviour, attempted criminal damage and resisting police. He remains in custody. 'Last night saw significant sustained disorder in Ballymena. This violence was clearly racially motivated and targeted at our minority ethnic community and police,' Assistant Chief Constable Ryan Henderson said. 'This violence has no place in our society and should be loudly condemned by all right-thinking people.' There will be an increased police presence in Ballymena to 'help protect these communities' and prevent any future disorder, he added. 'We are engaging with groups affected by the disorder to support and reassure them. I would strongly urge anyone who was involved in yesterday's violent disorder to reflect long and hard about their actions, they will have consequences,' added assistant chief constable Henderson. He appealed for 'calm over the coming days'. A damaged property at Clonavon Terrace in Ballymena following Monday evening's protest. Photograph: Jonathan McCambridge/PA Wire Six properties in Clonavon Terrace were damaged after their windows were smashed during the disorder. Stormont Justice Minister Naomi Long said there can be 'no justification' for such 'appalling' scenes. Social media footage showed protesters burning plastic road barriers and bins as part of a barricade on the street. Some masked individuals also threw missiles, including cans of paint and glass bottles, at PSNI vehicles. A line of police vehicles advanced towards the protesters followed by officers on foot. In its update on Tuesday, the PSNI said the protest – attended by hundreds of people – was 'initially peaceful' before a number of masked individuals broke away and began to 'build barricades, stockpile missiles and attack properties in the Clonavon Terrace area'. 'Police officers came under sustained attack over a number of hours with multiple petrol bombs, fireworks, heavy masonry and bricks thrown in their direction by masked rioters. Fifteen officers were injured with some requiring hospital treatment,' the PSNI said. 'Two police vehicles were also damaged during the disorder.' In a separate incident, police are also investigating a report of arson at the Tobar Park area of Cullybackey, a village in Co Antrim, on Tuesday. Shortly after 12.20am, it was reported that a petrol bomb was thrown at a vehicle in the area which set it alight. Damage was caused to a nearby property, with a woman and two children inside. Police said the attack is being treated as a racially motivated hate crime.
BBC News
21-05-2025
- BBC News
Belfast: Bricks thrown through windows in racist attack
Bricks have been thrown through two windows of a house in Belfast, which the police are treating as a racially-motivated hate crime. The attack happened in Kincraig Avenue in the east of the city shortly after 23:00 BST on Tuesday. Three males wearing grey tracksuits were seen running from the scene, according to the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI). There were no reports of any injuries. "No one should be victimised or intimidated due to their ethnicity and there are no excuses," a PSNI sergeant said. "Hate has a far-reaching and damaging impact on the whole community and we are committed to doing everything possible to prevent incidents, support victims and pursue perpetrators."
