An attack on a woman wearing a bikini in a park in France that sparked fears of radical Islamic attacks had ‘absolutely nothing to do with religion’, according to police.
Social media users across France held up the incident as proof that radical Islamic ideas pose a threat to French values, following Wednesday’s assault.
But police confirmed that the attack, which took place in the Leo-Lagrange park in the northeastern city of Reims, was in fact a fight between rival girl gangs.
Police said that victim Angelique Sloss, 21, got into an argument after another young woman from a ‘rival gang’ told her to put her clothes on.
It was windy and overcast at the time, they added, and a number of youngsters took sides in the dispute and began fighting.
Julie Galisson, the local police superintendent who is leading the enquiry, said: ‘It was a fight between young girls which degenerated after one of the authors of the aggression said “Get dressed, it’s not summer”.
‘One of those arrested would not leave her alone and this degenerated into violence.’
She added: ‘As is clear from the statement of the victim and those implicated, there is no element of a religious or moral element which explains the aggression.’
A social media campaign launched by anti-racism group SOS Racisme saw hundreds of Twitter users posting photographs of themselves in bikinis in public places, defending their right to wear what they like.
The photographs were joined by the hashtag ‘JePorteMonMaillotAuParc’, meaning ‘I wear my swimsuit in the park’.
One Twitter user added: ‘All women are free to wear what they want, and no one can decide for them.’
Another wrote: ‘I’m posting a photo to say no to the draconian oppression of liberty.’
Protesters turned out at the park wearing their bikinis on a drizzly wet day to back the ‘JeSuisCharlie’ style campaign.
Three of those arrested for the violence were named as Ines Nouri, Zohra Karim and Hadoune Tadjouri, who are in their late teens and early 20s.
Two others – aged 16 and 17 – cannot be named because they are minors.
French police had previously revealed that the attackers came from housing estates with large Muslim populations.
This sparked the assumptions that the attack was religiously-motivated.
The Mayor of Reims, Arnaud Robinet, said: ‘We have to be very careful not to jump to conclusions. All the same, I can understand why people have assumed that this attack had religious motives. If that turns out to be the case, it is a very serious incident.’
All the suspects were bailed and are due in court in September to answer accusations of ‘violent conduct’, according to a Reims police spokesman.
Islamophobia has spiralled in France following the shootings at the Parisian offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, in January.
A poll by the Le Monde newspaper four years ago found that Islam is considered a ‘threat’ by many French and Germans to their national identity.
The poll of 1,600 people in both countries found that Muslims have ‘not integrated properly’.
Le Monde ran the results under a headline which brands efforts to get different religious communities to live side by side as a ‘failure’.
France, with 7 million, and Germany, 4.3 million, have the largest Muslim communities in Europe. There are around 2.4 million in Britain.
In 2010 Germany’s Angela Merkel conceded that her country’s multicultural society had ‘failed’ while a number of French politicians have complained about the growing influence of radical Islam.
According to the Le Monde poll, carried out with marketing firm IFOP, 68 per cent of French and 75 per cent of Germans believe Muslims are ‘not well integrated into society’.
Others – 55 per cent in France and 49 per cent in Germany – said they believed the ‘influence and visibility of Islam’ was ‘too large’, while 60 per cent in both countries said the reason for the problem is Muslims’ own ‘refusal’ to integrate.
Just as crucially, 42 per cent of French and 40 per cent of Germans consider the presence of Islamic communities ‘a threat’ to their national identities.
In France the government has displayed a hard line towards religious extremism and has banned Islamic veils.
By Imogen Calderwood
