By On Friday night at 9:40 P.M., a woman wearing a headscarf was shot dead. The assailant hasn’t been identified yet.
The woman was hit with five bullets, two bullets were fired in close range. An assault rifle was used, and six bullet shells were found at the scene. The victim was found in a car and has not been identified.
France has a long history of Islamophobia, most recently being in the news for banning the burkini at beaches, which was recently overturned by French court.
Investigators are not looking at this crime as a hate crime — just as investigators in Philadelphia also didn’t consider it a hate crime when a Muslim man had an explosive device thrown at him on Sept. 22.
France has a long history of Islamophobia, most recently being in the news for banning the burkini at beaches, which was recently overturned by French court.
On Sept. 12, someone attempted to set a veiled woman on fire in New York City and that was also considered “a possible hate crime.”
This incident happened only two days before two Muslim women in Brooklyn were attacked while they were pushing their toddlers in strollers. A man tried to rip the headscarves off these women and this too, was treated like an “alleged” hate crime.
Just the week before the incident in Brooklyn, a pregnant woman in nijab was kicked in the stomach and yelled at about her niqab in Spain.
Islamophobic rhetoric is becoming more aggressive, and the attacks against women in headscarves and people that “look” brown are becoming more frequent.
Are we sure this was an Islamophobic attack and not a personal attack? Are we being just as bad as the other side when they rush to deem and Muslim attacker a terrorist if we rush to deem any attack on a Muslim Islamophobic? I am not saying that it is not possible that it was – just that we should be careful and diligent, just as we expect others to be.
Careful being objective might put you offside with the hypocrites.
Um ok…I’m assuming that yours’ was supposed to be some sort of intelligent comment … But flippant comments aside (because the whole “hypocrites” thing isn’t working), Muslims are experiencing heightened Islamophobia in France where hijab-clad women are the physical targets so its not far off to assume that this could be an attack from a bigot. Being “objective” can be difficult when physical attacks and vandalism is happening every day to Muslims in that part of the world, and there is the natural instinct to lump it with other hate crimes. However I do agree with Reem, we need to explore all avenues before rushing to assume a motive. Due to the violent nature of the shooting, it looks like someone really couldn’t stand this woman so maybe it is personal.