Romanian and French officials condemn violent attack on young Romanian in France

Prime Minister Victor Ponta says that harsh punishment is required for acts like the June 13 attack against a young Romanian, brutally beaten by several person in Pierrefitte-sur-Seine, north of Paris. The boy of 16, called Darius, is currently lying in a coma in the Lariboisiere hospital in Paris.

He was hospitalized last weekend after supposedly being the victim of a lynching in which 12 individuals had been involved at the outskirts of Paris.

Ponta mentioned on Tuesday evening the discussion he had earlier in the day with his French counterpart, who confirmed the condemnation of such acts by top French officials, writes RomaniaTv.

The PM said that authorities should “show no hesitation” in dealing with situations where there are “clear signs of intolerance.

The Romanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Titus Corlatean also voiced his outrage; he added that he was displeased by the fact that the Romanian embassy has been informed by media, not by French authorities about the attack on the young Romanian.

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France Presse also quoted the prosecutor in charge of the case, Sylvie Moisson, who asserted, ‘It was a savage act, a mob justice act attributable to several individuals. The motive was personal revenge.’

The French embassy in Bucharest also highlighted on Tuesday the reaction of French President Francois Hollande and of Prime Minister Manuel Valls, who denounced the violence and asked the competent authorities to identify and indict the perpetrators.

French president Francois Hollande said the incident was an “unspeakable and unjustifiable attack on all the principles on which our republic was founded”.

However, Mr Hollande’s government has been criticized for stigmatizing the Roma. Prime minister Manuel Valls has said the Roma “could not integrate” and should be sent back to Romania or Bulgaria. The French government is coming under fire for perpetuating ‘a toxic atmosphere” that breeds intolerance.

“There is a toxic atmosphere in France at the moment, going right up to government level, which allows anti-Roma speech and behavior. This violent attack against a young Roma boy is partly the tragic outcome of this,” said Violeta Naydenova of the Open Society Foundations, quoted by Telegraph.

One Romanian European Member of Parliament blamed France’s anti-immigrant National Front party for stirring hatred of Roma.

“I think that Marine Le Pen and the hate speech propagated by National Front are morally guilty for the disfigurement of this child,” said Damian Drãghici.