It’s published
The shock over the murder of a Tunisian hairdresser in a village near the French Riviera last weekend continues to echo across Western European countries as authorities accused them of fueling their hatred.
One of his neighbors has been blamed for the attack after 46-year-old Hichem Miraoui was shot dead near his home in Puget-Sur-Argens in the south of France on Saturday.
In a video posted to Facebook shortly before his arrest, the suspect, identified as 53-year-old Christophe B, appeared to use racist language and incite French citizens to commit violent acts against Muslims.
French Interior Minister Bruno Retero said Tuesday that the murder was a “clearly racist crime,” a “probably anti-Muslim,” and a “probably a terrorist crime.”
The National Anti-Terrorism Public Prosecutor’s Office (PNAT), which opened in 2019, began investigating the murder this week.
Since the murder of Mirawi, Muslim communities across France have spoken about their sadness and fear.
In a statement released Tuesday, the Mosque’s Rhone Council said the crime marked “a troubling and increasingly hostile climate against citizens of Muslim faith in France.”
Meanwhile, Hafiz Chems-Eddine, president of the Grand Mosque in Paris, called for “urgent and national recognition of the dangers of xenophobia, racist and larval rhetoric.”
“It’s time to question the facilitators of this hatred. This hatred works with immunity in the political and media fields and leads to very serious incidents,” he said.
Islamic leaders also formed a connection between the murder of Mirawi and the fatal stab wounds of 22-year-old Marian Abubakar Sisse at a mosque in southern France on April 25th.
In a video filmed while Cisse was dying, his French attackers criticized Islam.
