An ugly reminder that not all the ethnic violence in France can be blamed on the usual suspects: Islam, immigration, etc.
French politicians urged soccer authorities to clean up their sport on Friday after a policeman killed one man and injured another while under attack from fans shouting racist comments.
Witnesses said the black policeman opened fire late Thursday on a mob of fans from the French first division side Paris Saint Germain who were chasing a Jewish supporter of the Israeli team Hapoel Tel Aviv.
In an apparent shocker, Hapoel had just defeated PSG 4-2 in a UEFA cup match.
“It seems like quite serious racist insults were used. ‘Dirty nigger’ and ‘dirty Jew’,” Paris Prosecutor Jean-Claude Marin told reporters.
Police said the PSG fans appeared to be far-right sympathizers and were chanting “France for the French” as they confronted the Hapoel supporter.
PSG has struggled for years to control a hard core group of hooligans, with far-right tendencies.
So a black policeman acted to rescue a Jew from a mob of white thugs. It’s not the standard narrative these days, but in a way it’s reassuring. I hope it turns out that the cop is a Muslim.
Update: According to commenter chuck, the policeman is from Martinique, which means he’s probably Catholic.
Further update: S.O. Muffin adds, “[P]erhaps the policeman wasn’t Muslim but Hapoel goals number 1 and 2 last evening were scored by Salim Toama and goal number 3 by Walid Badir – both Israelis of Palestinian origin and, presumably, Muslim.”
Additional update: I’m curious how (if at all) the hard-left/anti-Zionist segment of the Web is reporting this incident– the intended victim was, after all, a supporter of an Israeli club. I’ll give credit where credit is due. Please email me with examples.