When one group of culture-enrichers has a violent encounter with another ethnic group in the French banlieues, the incident is referred to as “community tensions”.

The following report adds some interesting details to the recent ructions in Montpellier: the incident involved North African “youths” battling gypsy “youths”. The gypsies had the temerity to express their support for the French World Cup team, which aroused the ire of the Maghrebians. It looks like the Muslims outnumbered the gypsies in that particular slum, and the death of the Muslim youth occurred when a gypsy was trying to escape in his car from a dangerous encounter.

Many thanks to Gary Fouse for translating this article from Le Figaro:

Death of an adolescent after France-Morocco match. Montpellier shaken by inter-community violence

by Guillaume Poingt

Violence between the Maghreb community and that of the Travelers (Gypsies) broke out in the Mosson quarter after the death of Aymen (14) crushed by a driver identified by authorities.

Community tensions broke out in Montpellier after the death of a 14-year-old adolescent, crushed by a car after the France-Morocco football match on Wednesday, 14 December. That evening, in the Mosson quarter, a group of about twenty youths surrounded a white Citroen C4 and tried to grab a French flag from the vehicle. The driver then took off hastily before making a half-turn and mortally crushing a 14-year-old minor of Maghrebian origin. The driver then fled.

“The car was not stolen, so the driver was quickly identified,” a police source informs us. That was confirmed Friday evening by the prefect of L’Herault. This individual, on the run and wanted by the police, is reportedly from the community of Travelers (Gypsies). The ethnic origin of the victim and that — alleged — of the suspect triggered tensions. In the night between Thursday and Friday, four detachments of the CRS police were deployed to the Mosson quarter, northwest of Montpellier, “to prevent any confrontations between the Gypsy community and the Maghrebian community,” stated a well-informed source to Le Figaro.

According to our information, the apartment of the passenger of the vehicle implicated in the fatal accident was broken into and ransacked during the night between Thursday and Friday. This man, beaten up just after the incident, has now been hospitalized. Proof of the tension that reigns in the Mosson quarter, a video disseminated Thursday December 15 on social media shows a group of some 20 individuals running down the street shouting, “Allahu Akhbar,” and then, “We’re going to f*** your mothers, Gypsies”.

Driver actively sought

A first act of revenge reportedly took place Thursday morning. A man belonging to the Gypsy community was found with his throat cut, but alive, a police source informs us. This individual was reportedly transported to CHU of Montpellier [University Hospital] accompanied by the Brigade of Investigation and Intervention, (NDLR), the source continued. The prefect of Herault categorically denies this information to Le Figaro and mentions a person from the Gypsy community who was “attacked”.

Investigators are still actively looking for the driver. “The investigation is progressing rapidly under the direction of the prosecutor,” the prefect of Herault stated Thursday in a press release. When contacted, the Montpellier Prosecutor’s Office did not want to make any additional statement, “during this active phase of the investigation.”

“The death of Aymen plunges us into a terrible ordeal,” the family of the adolescent reacted in a press release issued by the city hall of Montpellier. “We call for calm and express our confidence in the institutions of the Republic, police, and justice,” it added, asking the media to respect their grief and privacy.