France Probes Calls to Kill Muslims During Live Discussion on X
Paris prosecutors have referred an online discussion containing alleged death threats and calls for violence against Muslims and immigrants to criminal investigators, amid renewed scrutiny of racist violence and anti-Muslim rhetoric in France.
By Abdullahi Yusuf
French prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation into alleged death threats against Muslims and racist calls for violence made during a live discussion on social media platform X.
The Paris Public Prosecutor’s Office announced the investigation on Tuesday, 27 October, after becoming aware of messages circulated during an X Spaces discussion in which participants allegedly advocated violence against Muslims and immigrants.
The investigation covers suspected public incitement to hatred or violence on grounds of origin or religion, direct online incitement to commit a terrorist act, and public calls to commit violent crimes. The case has been referred to the criminal investigation police.
Thomas Portes, a lawmaker with the left-wing La France Insoumise (LFI) party, had drawn attention to the discussion, sharing excerpts on X and calling for the authorities to intervene.
Among the reported remarks were statements declaring that France was not the country of Arabs and urging participants to exploit Muslim street prayers because worshippers would be gathered in one place.
Other participants allegedly advocated targeting a neighbourhood to make it French again, while some reportedly called for people to be killed.
Portes said he was referring the matter to Paris Public Prosecutor Laure Beccuau over what he described as calls to murder, incitement to racial hatred and racist speech.
According to French media reports, the prosecutor’s office took up the matter independently of Portes’ complaint after becoming aware of the reported messages. The extent to which his referral contributed to the opening of the investigation has not been independently established.
The investigation comes days after a shooting in Trappes and nearby La Verrière, west of Paris, in which one person was killed and five others wounded, including a 12-year-old girl.
France’s National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office took over the shooting investigation, examining suspected murder and attempted murder linked to a terrorist enterprise, with a possible aggravating circumstance relating to the victims’ actual or perceived race, ethnicity, nationality or religion.
President Emmanuel Macron described the shooting as a “terrorist and racist attack”, saying he believed the victims had been targeted because of their skin colour or perceived religion. Investigators are examining the circumstances and motive behind the violence.
Trappes Mayor Ali Rabeh also described the shooting as racist and possibly Islamophobic. The investigation into the shooting and the inquiry into the X discussion concern separate incidents; no direct connection between them has been established.
The incidents have renewed attention on the treatment of Muslims and immigrants in France, where debates over immigration, national identity, secularism and Islamic religious dress remain politically contentious.
Marine Le Pen, a leading figure in the far-right National Rally party, has recently revived a proposal to penalise women who wear Islamic headscarves in public spaces, including on the street. The proposal, which has featured in her earlier presidential campaigns, has renewed debate over religious freedom and the rights of Muslim women. It remains a political proposal, not an enacted law.
French Muslim organisations have repeatedly raised concerns about anti-Muslim rhetoric, discrimination and policies affecting religious expression. Following the shootings, the French Council of the Muslim Faith condemned what it described as the consequences of hate speech, stigmatisation and scapegoating.
The criminal investigation into the X discussion will examine the reported statements and determine whether they constitute offences under French law.
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