France: Perpetrator after the murder of Muslim for two days

On Friday, a creditor Muslim was murdered by dozens of knife stitches in the Mosque of the Small Community of La Grand-Combe in the Gard Department. Two days later, the perpetrator, a « potentially extremely dangerous » man in the twenties, is still sought, while the reactions in politics reached up to the top of the state.

« Racism and hatred due to religion will never have a place in France, » assured Emmanuel Macron on X. « Religious freedom is inviolable, » emphasized the head of state and spoke to the family of the victim and « our compatriots Muslim faith » the « support of the nation ».

In the still traumatized community, a white march began shortly after 2:30 p.m. to commemorate the victim on Sunday, a young painter in the twenties. From the Khadidja mosque, in which the drama had occurred, almost a thousand people moved towards the town hall of the small southern French community with fewer than 5,000 inhabitants.

Criticism of anti -Islam mood

Among them was also Abdallah Zekri, rector of the peace mosque in Nîmes, who made no secret of his « feeling of anger and hatred towards those who committed this crime ». « We would have liked the presence of the Minister of the Interior or the prefect, but unfortunately they were not present, » he regretted and denounced an anti -Islam climate.

« They switch on the television and what do you hear from morning to evening, Islam, the Muslims, the migrants, the OQTFS, there is only that, » he accused. OQTF stands for « Obligation de Quitter Le Territoire Français », that is, the obligation to leave the French sovereign area. For example, in the event of refusal to issue a residence permit or an illegal stay in France.

Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau announced that he would come to the Gard department on Sunday afternoon in order to meet local representatives of the Muslim community and to talk to the public prosecutor about the status of the investigation. However, these talks will take place in Alès’ sub -prefecture.

Although « all traces » are still considered for the investigators, including that of a « racist and Islam -anti -Islam » crime, as the public prosecutor of Alès, Abdelkrim Grini, emphasized on Saturday to the French news agency AFP, this thesis was largely taken over by the political class, in particular by Prime Minister François Bayrou, which on Saturday on X « an Islamfish Schmach » denounced.

Murderer is committed to act

There is only a few official information about the murderer: the man with the first name « Olivier », who was born in Lyon in 2004, is a French citizen, comes from a Bosnian family and has part of his family in the Gard. He is not a criminal record and unemployed.

It is clear to the prosecutor that he is « potentially extremely dangerous » and that it is « extremely important » to arrest him before demanding other victims. In the incohercling statements that the young man makes in the video, which he himself accepted on Friday after the murder of his dying victim, he « said his intention to do it again, » as the prosecutor explained to AFP on Saturday evening.

In the same video you could see how the murderer congratulates himself for his act and insulted the religion of his victim: « I did it (…) your shit-allah, » he repeated twice. When he was attacked, Aboubakar, a young man from Mali, who had lived in La Grand-Combe for several years, was how to clean the mosque early every week to clean before the Friday prayer.