‘Islam out of Europe’: Hundreds protest in France after Muslims murder child

Hundreds of French nationals Monday marched through the streets of Lyon chanting “Islam out of Europe!” and demanding a change to the country’s immigration policies.

The demonstration came after a group of 10 Muslims launched a stabbing spree last Saturday night at a dance party in Crépol, a village in the southeastern Drôme region with less than 600 people. After reportedly announcing that they were “here to stab White people,” the Muslims stabbed 16 White people, killing a 16-year-old identified only as Thomas.

Despite reports from over at least nine witnesses who confirmed they heard anti-White rhetoric during the attack, Senior Prosecutor Laurent de Caigny insisted the fight broke out for “petty reasons” and was not due to race nor to ethnicity. This means the attack is not being investigated as a hate crime and sentencing will be more lenient.

Six people have so far been arrested in connection with the event and for armed attacks on police. After fast-track hearings on Monday they were sentenced to between six and ten months in prison, reported France 24 Monday. They are also banned from living in Drôme and forbidden from owning a weapon for five years. 

Political and media operatives — who take care to omit the attackers’ nationality when reporting the attack — are blaming French nationals for being dissatisfied with the response and opposing mass immigration. Calls to restrict entry to Muslims specifically have been growing, particularly after last month’s incident in which a Muslim of Chechen origin stabbed a teacher to death and wounded three others.  

There have been several protests since the attack, including one involving at least 100 Frenchmen who participated in a silent march on the town of Romans-sur-Isere Saturday where some of the attackers are believed to live.

But these French taxpayers remain unheard, and have instead been dismissed as “far-Right” by the media and French leaders. 

"Those who oppose this by illegitimate violence will answer for it," de Caigny warned protesters.

There are an estimated eight million Muslims living in France, comprising roughly 10% of the population. Most come from Algeria, followed by Morocco.

The reaction by French authorities matches that of their counterparts in Ireland, who recently vowed to crack down on Irish nationals who are protesting the recent stabbing of small children by an Algerian Muslim immigrant.

Violent riots broke out in Dublin Thursday night hours after a Muslim man in his 50s stabbed three small schoolchildren and a school worker who tried to protect them. The worker and a five-year-old girl remain in critical condition.

Protesters launched demonstrations in central Dublin calling on politicians to close the border to migrants and tighten immigration policies. The protests grew violent as some demonstrators set vehicles on fire and vandalized certain establishments. A Holiday Inn Express believed to be housing migrants was set on fire and mosques were reportedly targeted. A bus was also set ablaze with the word “OUT” scrawled on its front. Several police officers were hurt and thirty-four people were arrested, according to The New York Times.

But international news media and Irish officials were quick to pin the protests on “hate” and the “far-Right.” Irish police force Garda Chief Drew Harris blamed them on a “hooligan faction driven by far-right ideology.” 

Ireland Prime Minister Leo Varadkar has vowed to combat the “hate” by Irish taxpayers who are demanding tighter immigration controls after the attack. On Friday Varadkar urged Irish lawmakers to pass “incitement to hate legislation” which was delayed after fierce objections earlier this year.

If the Irish Parliament passes the Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences) Bill 2022, Irish citizens who are caught in possession of “hate speech” may face up to five years in prison unless they can prove in court they did not have hateful intent. “Hate” is not defined in the bill.

“I think it’s now very obvious to anyone who might have doubted it that our incitement to hatred legislation is just not up to date. It’s not up to date for the social media age. And we need that legislation through, we need it through within a matter of weeks,” Varadkar said last week, according to Irish publication The Journal.

“Because it’s not just the [social media] platforms that have responsibility here and they do. There’s also the individuals who post messages and images online that stir up hatred and violence and we need to be able to use laws to go after them individually as well,” he added.

Varadkar also said he plans to use the riots to push through legislation aimed at increasing facial recognition surveillance which has been met with opposition.

“We’re also bringing through legislation at the moment around the use of CCTV [camera surveillance], the gardaí collected a huge amount of CCTV evidence last night, we have a lot of CCTV in the city centre,” he said. “It’s important that we’re able to use modern technologies to go through that and go through it quickly.

“So we want to make sure that we make those changes to our laws in the next couple of weeks to allow the gardaí to use that evidence and go through that evidence and identify the people who are involved in these actions and we are going to get them.”