Racism: Thirty years later, the memory of the murder of Brahim Bouarram on May 1st

It was thirty years ago, in 1995. The National front (FN), which collected 4.5 million votes in the first round of the presidential election a few days earlier, parades in the streets of Paris on the occasion of the 1^is may. On the quays of Seine, below the Carrousel bridge, where far-right activists are agitated, tricolor flags and signs with the image of Jean-Marie Le Pen in hand, a 29-year-old Moroccan awaits a friend. His name is Brahim Bouarram. Arrived in France at the age of 10, he is the father of two children, and works in a grocery store in the Halles district.

A little before noon, four fascists deviate from the procession and boast, well alcoholic. One of them points to the banks, the other three descend and approach Brahim Bouarram. It is on this part of the quays, known to be a “Homo flirting place”that one of the activists shouts to passers -by: “AIDIC threats! »» A few minutes later, under the eyes of his acolytes, Mickaël Fréminet throws Brahim Bouarram into the water. The Seine is in flood, its current is powerful, and the young man, who does not know how to swim, drowns in his dense waves. “We screwed him up in the water”slips one of the far -right activists, who return to the demonstration and go home to Reims (Marne) the same evening, on a bus chartered by the FN, as if nothing had happened.

Rapid media coverage

In the context of the in-lines, the case is quickly publicized. Two days later, on May 3, a demonstration was organized, during which more than 12,000 people pay tribute to Brahim Bouarram. François Mitterrand, whose presidency lasts a few more days, throws a wreath in the water, near the Carrousel bridge. Jean-Marie Le Pen, meanwhile, denies the racist character of the event without surprise: “I regret that unhappy has drowned, but in an agglomeration of 10 million inhabitants, this kind of various facts can always occur, or even be created at will”, he said.

The trial of far -right activists will take place three years later, in 1998, before the Paris Assize Court. Mickaël Fréminet, 19 at the time of the events, was sentenced to eight years in prison for murder. Christophe Calame (activist of the French work), David Halbin (member of the FN) and David Parent, his acolytes, spectators of the scene, receive for their part of sentences of five years in prison, including four suspended from non-assistance to person in danger.

Xenophobic ideas that have not disappeared

Thirty years later, and a few days after the assassination of Aboubakar Cissé in a mosque in the Gard, the traditional commemorative ceremony in homage to Brahim Bouarram is of a particular dimension. “In both cases, there are no doubts about the author’s racist motivation”, Ian Brossat measurement. The PCF spokesperson will be held alongside Saïd Bouarram, one of the sons of Brahim Bouarram, this Thursday at 8:45 am. A wreath will be deposited in tribute to the murocan assassinated, under the plaque installed in 2003. An important approach for the communist senator who denounces a racist climate aggravated compared to that of thirty years ago, far -right has more than doubled. “We have been witnessing a xenophobic outburst that invades political and media space for a few years”, he insists.

The observation is shared by the League for Human Rights (LDH), on the initiative of the annual commemorative rally in tribute to Brahim Bouarram which will also be held this Thursday, at 10 am, at the Carrousel Bridge. “More than ever, resistance is necessary, Alert Patrick Baudouin, honorary president of LDH. There is in front of us a kind of steamroller that is the great alliance of the extremes right all over the world. This is against this that must be struggled. And beyond, what to claim is more social and economic justice. Because that’s what feeds racism. »»

Duty of memory

Said, Brahim’s son, was 9 years old when his father was thrown into the Seine. He then lived with his mother and little sister in a village in Morocco. “It was a friend of my father who announced it to us. We were first told that he had fallen into a river. We did not imagine that the Seine was so large, he recalls. I only started to understand this act until later, growing up. At the time, I did not understand what racism was. »» Since his arrival in France in 2006 to follow the footsteps of this father whom he has not really known, Saïd has never missed the commemoration of 1^is May. “It is important for the duty of memory. The speech I make every year is my way of fighting racism. »»

Today father of two children aged 7 and 3, he devotes himself fully to his profession and his family life, with a moved thought, each year, for his father, whose memory was also honored by a song by Zebda, which is called The carousel bridge : “A man I did not know/fell I don’t know why/It was too much shoulder/he fell into the water of the carousel bridge/which was reserved for Marcel/That day they were thousands/who paraded for Jeanne on foot/(…)/It is to believe that to cross a bridge/well you have to be called Dupont …”