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The family of a Guinean man who died after being severely beaten in Rouen, Normandy, Friday called for calm after his death triggered a fierce reaction on social media. A suspect of Turkish origin was arrested.
The victim is Mamoudou Barry, 31, a Guinean researcher and teacher, who had just completed his Ph.D. He was brutally attacked Friday night by a man uttering racist slurs.
Barry had gone to pick up his wife at the bus stop after work and then had planned to attend the finals of the Africa Cup of Nations football tournament, in which he 's going to meet him. Algeria would face Senegal.
As they were preparing to return, a man approached their vehicle. According to Barry's relatives, the attacker pointed at him and said in French: "You, black bastards, we will kill you tonight."
When he got out of the car to ask why he had been insulted, he was beaten until he lost consciousness and, when he fell, he hit his head against him. pavement.
He was transported to the hospital but succumbed to his injuries 24 hours later.
Minister of the Interior Christophe Castaner tweeted that "everything will be done to identify and arrest the perpetrator of the attack." It is up to the justice system to provide a full report of the attack. this odious act ".
Theories about scandal and conspiracy
The attack sparked a wave of reactions on social media. The first responses included suggestions that the racist insult was a harmless football joke.
According to other comments, Barry was allegedly attacked by an Algerian supporter who mistook him for a supporter of Senegal.
Barry's lawyers stated that there was no doubt that it was "a racist crime", although they did not want to not tie it to the Africa Cup of Nations.
"We are shocked (…) .We can not even question his wife about it because she is traumatized," said Fatou Barry, Mamoudou's aunt, who told RFI that she feared that Such comments can not fan racial tensions between Arabs and Africans in France.
"There are people who are posting videos of Arabs killing Africans, with Mamoudou's picture, when I saw that, I was deeply hurt," she said. . "We want justice to be done for Mamoudou and not for the war between the two communities," she insisted, warning the public not to be fooled by hate propaganda.
The theory that Barry was killed because of Arab-African hostility was questioned Monday morning after the arrest by the police of a man of Turkish origin.
Mamoudou in mourning
The suspect is 29 years old and, according to the police, has psychiatric problems. It is known to the authorities for offenses related to drugs and petty crime. He is from Canteleu, the suburb of Rouen where the incident took place, but does not live there anymore. He was found under CCTV and with witness statements.
"I do not know why this man did this, why he used such an odious language, only God knows," said Fatou.
The Thinking Africa Research Institute, where Barry worked, wrote Monday that they had lost a much loved colleague.
Barry had just completed a doctoral thesis on the topic of tax and customs policy on foreign investment in French-speaking Africa.
"He impressed the jury so much that they awarded him a distinction for his work, whereas since May 2016, French universities no longer award distinctions for their theses," said Adam Abdou, one of his colleagues.
"We are all in shock, teachers and students, we have lost an exceptional person, open minded and loving everyone," he told RFI.
A march to pay homage to Barry was organized in Rouen on Friday at 15:00 and in Paris on Saturday at 13:00.
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