Two women in Paris have been arrested after they allegedly stabbed two Muslim women, used racial slurs, and attempted to rip off their headscarves.
Sources told Agence France-Presse on Thursday that the women were charged with assault and using racial slurs and were drunk at the time of the alleged attack, which comes as racial tensions in France have heightened following the beheading of a French schoolteacher by an Islamist radical.
The suspects in the stabbing attack, both aged 22, allegedly stumbled upon the veiled women at the Champ de Mars near the Eiffel Tower. A Muslim family had reportedly complained to them about their pit bulls, which they said made them feel threatened.
One of the women then pulled out a knife and stabbed a 19-year-old woman wearing a headscarf three times and a 40-year-old woman six times, according to the report.
The older woman, identified by her first name Kenza, was hospitalized with a perforated lung. The victims allege that the two suspects told them, “This is not your home” and referred to them as “dirty Arabs.” The two are reportedly of Algerian origin, according to the New York Post.
The main suspect in the attack is being held in custody while the other suspect has been released on bail. Their attorney, Bernard Solitude, cautioned against “blowing this story out of proportion” and described the incident as “a row which degenerated after insults were made.”
The victims’ attorney, Arie Alimi, said the suspects should have their charges increased given the nature of the alleged attack. Alimi said that the two suspects were focused on his clients’ veils and attempted to tear them off, referring to the religious dress as “that thing you have on your head.”
The accusations come just days after teacher Samuel Paty was beheaded by 18-year-old Abdullakh Anzorov, who was later killed by police. The suspect in that attack is believed to have been upset that Paty showed his students a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad. Mass demonstrations in support of free speech broke out in France, and police have been conducting sweeping raids in connection to the decapitation.
