Fourteen hundred people, according to the police, participated Friday afternoon in the white march in tribute to Mamoudou Barry, a young Guinean teacher-researcher killed last weekend near Rouen, said an AFP correspondent.
"We lost a man of great value"
Several people were holding placards with the photo of the 31-year-old and the inscription "In memory of Mamoudou Barry". A man wrapped himself in the Guinean flag, red, yellow and green, while others had put on t-shirts with the photo of the academic. "Stop Racism" and "Justice for Dr. Mamoudou Barry," chanted the crowd.
The victim's wife and brother were present as well as MEP EELV David Cormand and local elected officials like the former president of the Haute-Normandie region, Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol (PS). The rally began with speaking engagements. "He was a kind man whose reasoning combined rigor and finesse.We lost a man of great value.The University of Rouen will not forget Dr. Barry," said Carine Brière, his supervisor.
"The incomprehensible horror" and "misunderstanding"
"We will not tolerate any recovery," said the lawyer for the victim's family, Mr. Jonas Haddad. "At the same time, we have to be lucid, and when the aggressor utters the words he uttered before blowing the blows at him, he is at the root of a racist crime." "The incomprehensible horror of the crime in Canteleu can only raise the misunderstanding, the whole university community was moved by this tragedy, racism has no place in the university," said Joel Alexandre, president from the University of Rouen-Normandie, reading a message from the Minister of Higher Education Frédérique Vidal.
Mamoudou Barry, the father of a two-year-old child, died of his injuries after being beaten in the street during a so-called "racist" assault by his family in Canteleu, a suburb of Rouen. A man was arrested Monday morning but his custody was lifted for medical reasons and he was hospitalized.