“It’s directly linked to religion”: in Seine-Saint-Denis, Neïma’s daily life faces community harassment

Wilfried Devillers / Photo credits: Thomas SAMSON / AFP 9:03 a.m., April 5, 2024

Three days after the attack on Samara as she left her college, tongues are loosening over a form of school harassment which seems to be fueled by communitarianism. The young girl was often called a bitch and a kouffar, which means disbeliever in Arabic, by one of her classmates. Samara likes to wear makeup and "dresses in the West", while her harasser "is veiled", her mother explained to journalists mid-week.

Harassment that some women like Neïma, who lives in Seine-Saint-Denis, also denounce. The young woman claims to be a regular victim of remarks. "This summer, I was in a dress. I passed by a place of worship and a man came out and was walking behind me. He ended up spitting at my feet and I turned around. I saw that he had a very threatening look. I knew full well that it was linked to religion,” she explains on Europe 1. 

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“We are supposed to live in a country of freedom”

"It's one fact among many others. I'm not going to say that it's everyday, but I find that even if it's once a week, once every 15 days, it's too much. We are supposed to live in a country of freedom, in a country of free choice, of freedom of conscience to practice or not to practice. And it is not up to others to decide who is a good practitioner, who does not. "It's not a function of her outfit," she believes. 

Before adding: "I think we are a majority. Unfortunately, for fear of reprisals, many will not speak publicly because they are suffering and they have no other choice. When you live in a neighborhood where everything is scrutinized, where we watch what you do, what places you go, it's very complicated to publicly denounce the pressures we experience on a daily basis," she concludes.