Anti-Asian hatred has grown around the world since the start of the coronavirus epidemic.

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Andrej Ivanov / AFP

  • On the evening of October 28, the day of the announcement of the second confinement by Emmanuel Macron, many racist messages and calls for violence against the Asian community were massively relayed on Twitter.

  • At the helm, the five young Internet users apologized and expressed their "regrets", citing a feeling of "impunity" provided by social networks.

  • The prosecution requested a citizenship course against them.

At the Paris court,

Rarely has justice shown such diligence.

Six months after the broadcast of a hate campaign massively relayed on Twitter and specifically targeting the Asian community, five young men found themselves, this Wednesday, in front of the magistrates of the 17th correctional chamber of the judicial tribunal of Paris.

Prosecuted for "racist insult" or "public provocation to commit an attack on the physical integrity of a person", these five students all made an act of contrition.

Pleading "humor" or "anger" caused on October 28 by the announcement of a second confinement, they recognized "reckless acts" reinforced by the illusion of a feeling of "impunity" on the victims. social networks.

"Anger" and "fed up"

Alexis D., an apprenticeship student in an engineering school, gray suit and dark glasses, is the first to step up to the bar.

On October 28, he was one of the first internet users to react to the announcement of confinement by attacking the Asian community.

"I don't give a fuck, I hate China, these sons of bitches have to be wiped off the map, all the viruses come from this shitty country," he wrote on his account, followed by 30 Internet users.

"It was just a feeling of fed up (…) I saw other people posting this kind of message, I followed stupidly", explains the young man.

“I didn't think about it while writing it (…) but of course it's insulting”, he admits.

A vexation also advanced by Ziad B., a 2nd year student at Science Po and dismissed for a message calling for "chasing Chinese".

Asked to explain himself, he would like to begin with “apologizing to anyone in the Asian community (…) for this stupid, thoughtless act”.

The only defendant to be assisted by a lawyer on Thursday, he explained that he had let himself be "guided by his emotions": "The health context has something to do with it, but I do not want to hide behind this excuse, I am not the the only student for whom the situation is difficult and provokes anger ”.

"Humor" and shared accounts

That same evening of October 28, among the crowd of hate messages posted on Twitter, Imad R.'s account launched to his community of 60,000 subscribers: "The students tomorrow at high school catch all the people who are doing LV2 / LV3 Chinese and beat them up ”.

If he has acknowledged being the creator and administrator of the account that posted this message, he assures that he is not the author.

Behind these lines, a certain "Zack", domiciled in the United States, with whom he has shared his account for several months.

During the investigation, the student explained: “I logged in two or three hours after the contentious tweet, deleted it but saw that it had been picked up.

I told Zack that it was not smart to do that, that it was illegal ”.

At the stand today, he defends himself: "I do not validate these comments at all (...) it is something serious, especially in this period of calls to hatred against Asian people".

Like Imad, Bissa N. also shares her Twitter account, but with around twenty other users whose previous profiles had been deleted by the platform.

On the other hand, facing the magistrates, he assumes to have written this post: "Put me in a cage with a Chinese, I want to have fun with him, break him [sic], I want to see any glimmer of hope in his eyes go out in front of me ”.

And to add: "If you are sad, tell yourself that there is worse in life, you could have been Chinese".

Followed by 50 or 60 subscribers, “all friends”, Bissa N. invokes a “humorous context”: “The first message is a reference to an MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) fighter who used this formula.

A lot of people tweet this by starting with "put me in a cage".

I did it my way, ”he said before apologizing:“ I didn't want to scare people ”.

Arnaud K., a law student, also took part in this campaign to “spoof” he assures: “But all my friends made me understand that it was not funny (…) The biggest regret that I It is to have offended a whole community (…) it was not at all my intention but that does not change anything, the feeling is the same ».

A feeling of impunity and the weight of words

On the benches of the civil parties, several representatives of the Chinese and Asian community are installed.

After the words of the defendants, they deliver to the court the concrete consequences caused by this racist and xenophobic surge.

“Our families were more afraid of being assaulted in the street than of Covid-19,” says Hua.

At the initiative of this legal action, the president of the Association of Young Chinese of France (AJCF) adds: “For a year, Asians have started to be incriminated because they are judged to be more or less responsible for this health situation. ".

She evokes a "legitimate" fear and underlines the "weight" of the words posted on social networks: "What tells us that someone is not going to use this word to take action?

".

"Words are not trivial"

Concrete worries that Ziad B. did not measure: "The fact of not being directly confronted with a person, of being behind a screen, necessarily makes us think that we are free to say what we want. ".

- "Would you have yelled the same words in the street?"

», Asks one of the assessors to Alexis D.

- "No, because in the street I know that people can hear me and that I can hurt them."

On Twitter, I have 30 subscribers who know me, ”admitted the young man.

An inconsistency denounced at the bar by Me Soc Lam, the lawyer for the AJCF: “I have the impression that these young people are not aware today of the gravity of the facts and the dangerousness of their message.

I regret it, ”he points out, recalling that all face up to five years in prison.

"These are not just words," said the lawyer in the preamble.


"When the president of the Association of Young Chinese of France evokes the fear in her stomach to go out, it is the consequence of words" (Eric Morain)

- helenesergent (@helenesergent) March 24, 2021

And the presence of representatives of the Asian community made it possible to prove, according to the prosecutor, that "the words are not trivial".

"Our file shows that they have an impact on others," she said before requesting a citizenship course against the five defendants.

Under advisement, the court's decision will be rendered on May 26.

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  • China

  • Social networks

  • Justice

  • Asia

  • Twitter

  • Coronavirus

  • Cyber ​​harassment

  • Trial

  • Racism