French authorities arrested nine individuals on suspicion of murder on Tuesday following the fatal stabbing of a French teenager in a suspected racially motivated attack.
Eyewitnesses to the stabbing spree in the French village of Crépol on Sunday which cost the life of 16-year-old Thomas and left several others injured have revealed how the knife-wielding gang members spoke of their desire “to kill White people”.
Promising rugby player Thomas was stabbed in the chest and neck after leaving a winter ball in the quaint village in the early hours of Sunday morning as a gang from a nearby town stood waiting for attendees to leave the village hall.
Two other men in their 20s were taken to a hospital in Lyon with critical injuries and several others were treated for stab wounds not thought to be life-threatening.
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Further details have since come to light regarding the intentions behind the attack, originally reported by the press as a “brawl” between two sets of youths.
“It wasn’t just a fight like we’re used to, where there’s little punches thrown at each other. We saw between 15 and 20 people arrive. We didn’t know them, they took out the knives, they were there to kill. We experienced it as an attack,” one eyewitness told French media.
“There were around thirty of them, according to my daughter’s friends,” said another local resident. “They shouted, ‘We are going to kill White people,'” he added, as cited by Paris Match.
French police have since amended their description of the attack, telling national media, “A brawl is two groups of young people who have decided to make an appointment and confront each other. Here, we are not in that configuration.”
Footage circulated on social media which Remix News has chosen not to republish purports to show individuals being stabbed by a group of young men who shout, “F**king gwer” — an Arabic slur for White people.
All nine suspects were based within the region of Drôme in southeast France. It is understood that seven of those arrested had traveled more than 450 kilometers to the city of Toulouse where they were detained. Two others were arrested in Romans-sur-Isère, a commune 20 kilometers south of Crépol.
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“Around 2 p.m., cars and vans quickly parked in front of businesses. Then, when the GIGN gendarmes, dressed in black, arrived, I saw young people running and trying to escape. They were even chased on the road before being handcuffed,” an eyewitness to the arrests told La Dépêche du Midi.
There were around 50 police officers involved in the operation.
“They are, for some, very well known to the justice system, in particular for theft, for break-ins linked to narcotics, for refusing to comply,” BFMTV’s crime correspondent Maxime Brandstaetter said of the suspects.
The main suspect alleged to have dealt the fatal blow to Thomas is a 20-year-old male born in Romans-sur-Isère.
“He was formally designated as the author of the fatal stabbing which struck the minor,” said public prosecutor Laurent de Caigny.
A march to remember Thomas has been organized through Crépol on Wednesday.
