Murder of Aboubakar: From Nice to Paris, they marched to say "stop Islamophobia"

"We don't want hatred of Muslims! Aboubakar, we haven't forgotten you!" The slogans echoing along Avenue Jean-Médecin sum up the mood of the protesters in Nice . Up to 150 people according to our count (120 according to the police, 300 to 400 according to the organizers) marched from Libération to Garibaldi this Sunday afternoon to say "stop Islamophobia." They were reacting to the murder of Aboubakar Cissé, the young Malian stabbed in a mosque in the Gard region on April 25.

Olivier H., 20, was charged with "murder based on religion" and imprisoned. He allegedly stabbed the victim 57 times while calling out "your shitty Allah (sic)." His mental state is questionable , as are his real motives - he is said to have expressed a desire to kill someone indiscriminately in the past. But for the protesters, this tragedy is symptomatic of the rise of Islamophobia in France, and of a "double standard" in the outrage.

"We don't know if the person who committed this act is disturbed, but we can already criticize the government's reactions," emphasizes Alan Clerc of the Young Insoumis. "Racism is a whole. You can't be anti-racist halfway," insists Olivier Salerno of the Insoumis. "In this case, it took a long time for the government to react. No one is fooled!"

"A vicious circle of hatred"

The Anti-Racist Counter-Attack Collective, the Young Insoumis, the Young Communists, and the Popular Student Front have called for demonstrations in Nice, as well as in Grasse and, above all, in Paris. At the front of the Nice procession, French and Palestinian flags coexist. "All united and all French! Liberty, equality, fraternity!" chants the crowd.

Myriam, a 42-year-old nurse wearing a veil, comes with her three children to bring "a message of peace." For her, this tragic incident "sums up the current atmosphere in France, the confusion and growing Islamophobia." Ali, an artist of Moroccan origin who has lived in France for fifty-two years, denounces "a vicious circle of hatred." "We must be outraged first, and then investigate! If this attack had taken place in a synagogue, would we have hesitated to speak of an anti-Semitic act?"