A French man fatally shot his Tunisian neighbour in Puget-sur-Argens, southeastern France, on Saturday evening, also injuring a Turkish man, according to the local prosecutor's office. The prosecutor stated that the suspect had posted two videos on his social media account featuring racist and hateful content both before and after the attack. In one of the videos, the suspect allegedly remarked, "Today I’m cleaning."
On Monday, the anti-terrorism prosecutor's office announced that it has officially taken on the case. Investigations are underway regarding murder and attempted murder linked to a terrorist organisation, with motives related to race, ethnicity, nationality, or religion, as well as for criminal terrorist conspiracy.
A source close to the case informed AFP that the referral to the anti-terrorism prosecutor's office is due to "the extent the suspect intended for his actions, which goes beyond a solitary act and aims to disrupt public order through terror." The newspaper Le Parisien reported that the suspect explicitly declared his "allegiance to the French flag" and urged the French to "shoot" individuals of foreign descent in one of his videos shared on Facebook.
A source who spoke to AFP reported that a man in his 30s was shot five times. The 53-year-old suspect, currently in police custody, is a sports shooter. Authorities discovered several firearms in his vehicle, including an automatic pistol, a shotgun, and a handgun, according to the prosecutor.
On Sunday night, the SOS Racisme association issued a statement condemning the incident, asserting that "racism has struck again in our country." The statement continued, "These crimes flourish in a toxic environment characterised by the trivialisation of racist rhetoric, media leniency towards the far right, and concerning signals from institutions."
"The recent double crime involving two men in Puget-sur-Argens did not come as a surprise. It stems from the deliberate efforts of the racist camp to once again validate racist expressions, both in speech and action.
In light of this troubling trend, Dominique Sopo, president of the NGO, emphasised the urgent need for political leaders and the media to stop overlooking anti-racist discourse, especially when they are not actively working to marginalise it. He cautioned that France is 'on the brink of a shift that is, in fact, already in progress.'"
Increase in Hate Crimes
This incident brings to mind the murder of Aboubakar Cisse, a 22-year-old Malian man who was fatally stabbed while praying in a mosque in La Grand-Combe, southern France, on April 25. The assailant delivered 57 stab wounds to Cisse while recording the attack and making Islamophobic comments.
"I did it [...]. Your worthless Allah, your worthless Allah," proclaimed the assailant, Olivier Hadzovic, who was subsequently charged and imprisoned for "murder motivated by religion." The terrorist motive sought by the victim's family and their attorney was not accepted.
In the aftermath of the murder, President Emmanuel Macron stated that "racism and religious hatred have no place in France," while Prime Minister Francois Bayrou described the attack as an "unthinkable act of Islamophobia."
Demonstrations were held across the nation to condemn Islamophobic violence and highlight the perceived disparity in the treatment of hate crimes.
Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau, known for his hardline approach to immigration and his stance against what he terms "political Islam," faced significant criticism for not issuing an immediate statement following a recent attack. He also declined to acknowledge the Islamophobic nature of the incident, which ignited a debate over the term itself; he incorrectly claimed it was first used by the Muslim Brotherhood. In the aftermath of the murder, Abdallah Zekri, vice president of the French Council of the Muslim Faith (CFCM) and chairman of the Observatory Against Islamophobia, stated to Middle East Eye that the nature of the crime should be clear. "This is an Islamophobic crime, the worst of all those committed in France against our community," he remarked.
"Following the desecration of graves, vandalism of Muslim places of worship and businesses, as well as insults and physical violence, we are now witnessing the killing of worshippers inside mosques," he stated, referencing a series of incidents that have targeted French mosques in recent years, including arson attacks and the discovery of pig heads at their entrances.
The National Directorate of Territorial Intelligence reports a 72 percent increase in anti-Muslim acts during the first quarter of this year compared to the same period last year.
Zekri attributed the murder to "the growing stigmatisation of Muslims in France," which he believes is driven by a shift to the right within the political class and the rise of Islamophobic rhetoric.
In response to the latest hate crime on Sunday, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of the left-wing France Unbowed party, condemned the act on X as an "infamous racist murder."
"We must not permit officials to incite racist hatred by giving it legitimacy. This message is one of compassion for the family that has been attacked. All informed citizens in France share this sentiment and recognise the serious misstep made by Bruno Retailleau." Retailleau responded to the crime on Monday, expressing his "compassion for the victim's loved ones and solidarity with the Tunisian community in France in the face of this intolerable act." "The investigation will clarify whether these acts are indeed racially motivated, but the videos released by the perpetrator leave little room for doubt."
