Saturday, May 13, 2006
International
Racist killings shock Belgium http://www.hindu.com/2006/05/13/stories/2006051306261400.htm
BRUSSELS: The ruthless killing of a black woman and a white child she was caring for prompted nationwide concern on Friday that it was part of a wider trend of racist violence.
Hundreds of protesters filed silently through the northern port town of Antwerp early on Friday, one day after a teenager with a shaven head and a newly-bought repeater rifle walked through the town centre and shot at people who were not white. He killed a Malian babysitter and the white child she cared for, and seriously injured a woman of Turkish descent.
"Africans have gone through enough. Now they are shot simply because they are dark," said Ngounda Demba, a relative of the babysitter. Police shot and wounded the man in the stomach before he could attack more people.
Assailant arrested
He was arrested and charged with murder on Friday while he was recovering in the hospital. He had been evicted from boarding school just days before for smoking, and had written a farewell letter there.
Still, nobody anticipated his killing spree on the narrow, cobblestoned streets hugging Antwerp's gothic cathedral.
"Everyone in our country has to realise what a climate of intolerance can lead to," Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt said.
Violent incidents against non-Caucasian people have been on the rise since a local white youth was murdered last month for an MP3 player. The killers were first said to be North Africans before police arrested two Polish suspects. Since that killing, incidents with racist undertones have been highlighted in the media. Closed circuit television pictures showed a black man being kicked and beaten outside a gas station in Brussels because he was slow to move his car away from the gas pump.
A man of African descent was beaten into a coma outside a bar frequented by the extreme Right. Three skinheads are under arrest in connection with the attack. There was also a suspicious fire at a home where people of African descent live.
"It cannot get any worse," Antwerp Mayor Patrick Janssens said. "It cannot be fathomed that this happens in clear daylight in Antwerp." Antwerp has long been a hotbed of the extreme Right.
The Flemish Interest Party, which has an anti-foreigner programme, has risen to become the biggest party in the city. The party also condemned the murders. "Our party is shocked by the events, for which there can be no excuse," chairman Frank Vanhecke said. - AP
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