'Muslim' girl gang attacks an 'immoral' sunbather for wearing a bikini in a French park, sparking JeSuisCharlie style social media campaign
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...eSuisCharlie-style-social-media-campaign.html
- A 21-year-old woman was attacked by gang of five in a park in Reims, France
- Furious social media users launched a 'public bikini' campaign on Twitter
- Hundreds of users across France posted photos of themselves in swimsuits
- Many are assuming that the attack was 'religiously-motived' but unconfirmed
An attack on a woman in France because she wore a bikini in a public park has sparked outrage on social media.
The 21-year-old victim, who has been named as Angelique Sloss, was beaten up by a gang of reportedly Muslim young women – aged between 16 and 24 – when she was sunbathing with two friends.
Protesters wearing bikinis and swimsuits held a rally at the park, in the northern city of Reims, yesterday despite rain and cold winds.
Hundreds across France joined the campaign on Twitter, posting photos of themselves wearing swimsuits in public places.
Spectators have likened the campaign to the JeSuisCharlie Twitter campaign, following the Charlie Hebdo shootings in Paris in January.
French police said the attackers came from housing estates with large Muslim populations.
This has sparked assumptions that the attack was religiously-motivated, and the incident is being held up by some right-wing observers as proof that radical Islamic ideas pose a threat to French values.
The Mayor of Reims, Arnaud Robinet, said: ‘We have to be very careful not to jump to conclusions. All the same, I can understand why people have assumed that this attack had religious motives. If that turns out to be the case, it is a very serious incident.’
One of the group is reported to have shouted at the woman for ‘immorally’ exposing so much flesh in public.
The woman responded and the group attacked her, slapping and punching her.
Passersby managed to stop the assault, but Ms Sloss has been unable to go to work following the assault because of the 'severe bruising'.
Police told L’Union newspaper that they couldn’t confirm whether the attack was motivated by ‘religious opinions’.
Four years ago a poll by the Le Monde newspaper found that Islam is considered a ‘threat’ by many French and Germans to their national identity.
The poll of 1,600 people in both countries found that Muslims have ‘not integrated properly’.
Le Monde ran the results under a headline which brands efforts to get different religious communities to live side by side as a ‘failure’.
France, with 7million, and Germany, 4.3million, have the largest Muslim communities in Europe. There are around 2.4million in Britain.
In 2010 Germany’s Angela Merkel conceded that her country’s multicultural society had ‘failed’ while a number of French politicians have complained about the growing influence of radical Islam.
According to the Le Monde poll, carried out with marketing firm IFOP, 68 per cent of French and 75 per cent of Germans believe Muslims are ‘not well integrated into society’.
Others – 55 per cent in France and 49 per cent in Germany – said they believed the ‘influence and visibility of Islam’ was ‘too large’, while 60 per cent in both countries said the reason for the problem is Muslims’ own ‘refusal’ to integrate.
Just as crucially, 42 per cent of French and 40 per cent of Germans consider the presence of Islamic communities ‘a threat’ to their national identities.
In France the government has displayed a hard line towards religious extremism and has banned Islamic veils.
