Living in fear: Chinese are prime targets of Paris gangs and violent muggings are on the rise
- Chinese residents of the French capital say the attackers are driven by the misconception that all Asians are wealthy
- Police believe they’ve broken up one gang, but the community is not convinced it will make much difference
A series of increasingly violent attacks and robberies on Paris’s Chinese population has the community living in fear, as they become an almost daily occurrence.
Last week police arrested 11 suspected ringleaders of a gang responsible for attacks against Chinese residents of Paris’s northeastern suburbs.
The youths, aged 16-19, have not been charged, but are said to have already been known to the police for alleged drug trafficking, violent thefts and extortion.
Between August 19 and October 2, according to police, there were over a dozen of attacks on Chinese people in the Seine-Saint-Denis suburbs of Aubervilliers, Saint-Denis, Bobigny, La Courneuve, the Bourget and Noisy-le-Sec.
The epicentre appears to be Aubervilliers, where more than 10,000 members of the Asian community work – many in large fashion shops in the town’s wholesale district.
Police say there is a pattern: the gangs follow Chinese people home from restaurants or work then attack them and make off with their valuables.
