French Left-Wing Champion of Immigration Attacked by ‘North African’ Men

Another left-wing defender in France of immigrants recently found herself on the receiving end of Muslim immigrants’ punches and kicks. More on the assault can be found here: “Left-wing deputy mayor hospitalized after attack by ‘North African’ men just meters from her home,” by Thomas Brooke, Remix News, December 22, 2023:

…Oriane Filhol, the deputy mayor to Mathieu Hanotin of the Socialist Party (PS) in Saint-Denis, was returning home from a work meeting when she was assaulted by several men on the driveway to her home at around 9.30 p.m.

The elected official, who is in charge of solidarity, women’s rights, and fighting against discrimination in her constituency, was “hit violently in the face and body with punches,” indicated a police source to Le Parisien newspaper.

What were the North Africans after? Did they want to rob her? Or sexually assault her? Or was their attack on a French, Infidel woman just for fun? All are possible. Or did they know, as the police think likely, that in Saint Denis, an overwhelmingly Muslim suburb of Paris, she was in charge of solidarity, women’s rights, and fighting against discrimination? Perhaps they didn’t think she was doing enough for them and their Muslim brothers. Perhaps they wanted to be given still more social benefits by the generous French state, and felt she had let them down.

Here’s a further possibility: in the course of her work, they may have had occasion to meet with her, and were not satisfied with her behavior as a Western woman who addressed them as an equal — something that in Muslim societies is strengst verboten. She was an Infidel, and therefore one of “the most vile of created beings.” And no doubt her Western clothes were interpreted by these Arabs as providing a “come hither” look, so that’s exactly what they did — came hither, and gave her a few body blows that required her hospitalization.

The left-wing politician managed to escape the attack and ran on foot to a friend’s house located a few streets away but was reportedly chased by the attackers who dealt further blows before fleeing in a getaway vehicle.

A police source, cited by Le Figaro newspaper, reported the men as being of “North African” appearance who had “their faces hidden behind a surgical mask and hooded”….

An investigation is being led by the Bobigny public prosecutor’s office which confirmed that it is considering charges for “violence resulting in a total incapacity for work of more than eight days by a person hiding their face, on a person entrusted with a public service mission.”

They had prepared for their attack by wearing masks; this was not a spontaneous, but a planned, assault. They knew where she lived and when she would be returning home. And the assault was violent enough to require her to stay home for more than eight days. How many of those days were spent in the hospital, recuperating, has not been made public.

“The exact reasons seem to be closely linked to her commitment as an elected official,” read a press release by Saint-Denis town hall on Thursday….

This is puzzling. Apparently Oriane Filhol had been targeted because of her work as a public official. But she was known as a champion of immigrants, and a fierce critic of President Macron’s new, much stricter policy on immigration, that would deny some social benefits to immigrants until they have spent five years in the country. Perhaps her attackers were enraged by Macron’s policy, and were blaming her as part of the government. Or perhaps they wanted to attack her as a warning to the French government not to put Macron’s policy into practice.

In her latest social media post, Filhol criticized the French government’s immigration bill which was passed with the support of right-wing parties earlier this week and imposes some restrictions on migrant rights including their entitlement to social welfare.

“While, from our local authorities, we do everything in our power to support families and promote their already difficult access to rights, now the Government and its allies are rolling back these rights with the immigration bill. The shame, the disgust,” she wrote.

In all this speculation, one thing is certain. Oriane Filhol will not be the least affected in her views by the attack she herself suffered. She’s a committed leftist. She will go on being the champion of those who are bringing such unpleasantness, expense, and physical insecurity to the people of France — the Muslim immigrants who attacked her, and if given half a chance, would delightedly attack her again.