Afghan migrant: I thought France was humane until police beat me

By Yiming Woo

 

FILE PHOTO: People wearing protective face masks demonstrate to show their support for asylum seekers, and to denounce police violence and an unwelcoming policy towards migrants in France, after clashes sparked when French police cleared out a new migrant camp at Place de la Republique in Paris, France, November 24, 2020. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes/File Photo

 

PARIS (Reuters) - Murtaza Khademi left his home in Afghanistan and smuggled himself into France because he thought he would be safe, but this week he encountered a different side of Europe: a police operation in which, he says, he was beaten with a truncheon.

 

"The police forces had no mercy. We thought they were humane people," he said on Tuesday night near a railway station in Paris where charities were distributing food. "They are not like that at all."

 

Khademi was among dozens of migrants and asylum seekers who had pitched pop-up tents on a central square in the city in an organised protest intended to attract attention to their precarious living conditions.

 

Police in riot gear moved in to disperse the protest on Monday night. Officers tussled with protesters as they tried to drag them out of the tents.

 

Interior Minister Gerard Darmanin said some of the scenes were "shocking" and that officers who behaved unacceptably would be punished. Officials said though the protest was illegal so police were within their rights to disperse it.

 

An Afghan migrant who made his way across several countries including Pakistan and Iran to reach what he thought was sanctuary in France expressed his shock at being beaten by French police. Adam Reed reports.

 

Khademi, 27, said he was inside his tent when the police arrived and beat him with batons. He escaped, but said he left his belongings inside the tent, so now he had nothing.

 

From Mazar-i-Sharif in northern Afghanistan, he said he travelled through Pakistan, Iran, and the Balkans to reach France. He previously stayed at a migrant camp on the edge of Paris, but that was dispersed last week.

 

Now, he said, he moves around the streets looking for a place to bed down. Many ordinary French people were supportive, he said, but the police were hostile.

 

"I thought that France was a good place and that its people are European, and that's why we came here, but the immigrants were not well received," he said, speaking in Dari, one of the languages used in Afghanistan.

 

"We have no way back; we have to stay here and endure the situation because we have no other choice."

 

(Writing by Christian Lowe; editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-11-27

 

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The Euro is a wonderful thing. 

Just now, webfact said:

"We have no way back; we have to stay here and endure the situation because we have no other choice."

 

Sure, but as French people had to endure your compatriots gun, knife and truck attacks they have become less receptive to migrants. Go figure.

17 minutes ago, LomSak27 said:

 

Sure, but as French people had to endure your compatriots gun, knife and truck attacks they have become less receptive to migrants. Go figure.

I dont hear much of afghan attacks.

20 minutes ago, LomSak27 said:

 

Sure, but as French people had to endure your compatriots gun, knife and truck attacks they have become less receptive to migrants. Go figure.

Which Afghan’s have committed these crimes in France?

 

Or is it you don’t know what ‘compatriot’ means?

12 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Which Afghan’s have committed these crimes in France?

 

Or is it you don’t know what ‘compatriot’ means?

 

Ask Indo China and other French colonies about French humaneness. 

A long and brutal history of shockingly cruel inhumaneness.

7 minutes ago, Natai Beach said:

 

Ask Indo China and other French colonies about French humaneness. 

A long and brutal history of shockingly cruel inhumaneness.

All colonial powers acted with brutality, that doesn't make it right, it's just the way it was, it would be unfair to single out the French without mentioning the 'humane' treatment that the British applied within its empire.

2 minutes ago, soalbundy said:

All colonial powers acted with brutality, that doesn't make it right, it's just the way it was, it would be unfair to single out the French without mentioning the 'humane' treatment that the British applied within its empire.

I wasn’t singling out the French. The Brits also raped, tortured, murdered, whipped, stole, abused woman and children etc. etc. Terrible.

 

But the subject here is the French. I did a tour of the Hanoi old French jail now a museum. Abhorrent stuff.

If Afghani Khademi had of seen it I reckon he would have chosen another country.

33 minutes ago, Natai Beach said:

I wasn’t singling out the French. The Brits also raped, tortured, murdered, whipped, stole, abused woman and children etc. etc. Terrible.

 

But the subject here is the French. I did a tour of the Hanoi old French jail now a museum. Abhorrent stuff.

If Afghani Khademi had of seen it I reckon he would have chosen another country.

And that was mild compared to the atrocities they committed in Algeria.

This guy is disingenuous, putting on an act; maybe he thinks he'll get a clip on the BBC. The French police and  other forces have always been notoriously brutal, everyone in the world knows it and I've seen it first hand. And there are differences; the Italian police, with some exceptions, really do treat migrants with kid gloves.

1 hour ago, Sujo said:

I dont hear much of afghan attacks.

 

Excuse, my mistake. Let me rephrase, , knife, guns and vehicle attacks made by migrant "co religionists" has led to French people being less than warm and welcoming.

 

Edited November 27, 20205 yr by LomSak27

 

3 hours ago, Enzian said:

This guy is disingenuous, putting on an act; maybe he thinks he'll get a clip on the BBC. The French police and  other forces have always been notoriously brutal, everyone in the world knows it and I've seen it first hand. And there are differences; the Italian police, with some exceptions, really do treat migrants with kid gloves.

 

A young Afghan smuggles into France and comments on French Police... 

 

French Police is regularly targeted by what we call "islamo far leftist" activists who promote such demonstrations as migrants camp illegally occupying streets and places, churches, in support of their claims to get documents, lodging,  etc, etc..nothing new, except that decades of illegal massive migrations and their consequences are now unbearable to most French people. 

It's time to turn the tide

Islamic Republic of Aghanistan.. with a median age of 18.4 years...  Pakistan, median age 22.8 years ..    

Edited November 27, 20205 yr by Opl

Then go back to Afghanistan and take your mates with you,your not wanted ,

Sorry if i aint a pc luvvie

18 minutes ago, bert bloggs said:

Then go back to Afghanistan and take your mates with you,your not wanted ,

Sorry if i aint a pc luvvie

Perhaps he would if international forces would leave.

20 minutes ago, bert bloggs said:

Then go back to Afghanistan and take your mates with you,your not wanted ,

Sorry if i aint a pc luvvie

Lol, says the bloke living in Thailand...

1 hour ago, smutcakes said:

Lol, says the bloke living in Thailand...

 

Nobody here is getting a free ride. Europe should not be held responsible for housing and feeding the third world.

Just now, 4737 Carlin said:

 

Nobody here is getting a free ride. Europe should not be held responsible for housing and feeding the third world.

That is true, although we could say it with more conviction if we stopped bombing their country and displacing people.

15 minutes ago, smutcakes said:

That is true, although we could say it with more conviction if we stopped bombing their country and displacing people.

and if they started with drastically controlling their demography and developing their economy, they'd be better off than having their young men running to the West    

Edited November 27, 20205 yr by Opl

1 hour ago, smutcakes said:

Lol, says the bloke living in Thailand...

With money in the bank, a home and familly a legal visa to live here ,pay my way ,put my son through school and university paying for  everything ,didnt come illegally. 

Try another ploy yours has been done to death

1 minute ago, Opl said:

and if they started with drastically controlling their demography and developing their economy, they'd be better off than having their youth running to the West   

 

I could not really care less about their economy or their demography- although i presume its not easy to get going when their is war blazing.... As far as I am concerned we (Europe) should stay out of their affairs- and then we would be better positioned morally to turn away illegal immigrants.

32 minutes ago, smutcakes said:

 

I could not really care less about their economy or their demography- although i presume its not easy to get going when their is war blazing.... As far as I am concerned we (Europe) should stay out of their affairs- and then we would be better positioned morally to turn away illegal immigrants.

so let's say, they'd be better off if these tribes stopped continuously  fighting each others in the first place

Edited November 27, 20205 yr by Opl

Oh come on...  you still can be reconciled to someone who beat you rather than someone who beheaded another person. 

And i don't think that you are better human than that police who beat you ! Otherwise you wouldn't have been standing there and raise your voice for nothing !

Edited November 27, 20205 yr by alianware

Off-topic post removed.

 

22 hours ago, Natai Beach said:

I wasn’t singling out the French. The Brits also raped, tortured, murdered, whipped, stole, abused woman and children etc. etc. Terrible.

 

But the subject here is the French. I did a tour of the Hanoi old French jail now a museum. Abhorrent stuff.

If Afghani Khademi had of seen it I reckon he would have chosen another country.

In his position it would have been better to be discreet, he entered France illegally and then openly protests his living conditions. France, like the UK have seen a large influx of illegal immigrants and I can imagine that this is a frustrating situation for the police who are on the sharp end of law enforcement. There has to be political a response to this problem which can only come from the EU and therein lies the problem. It has become a moral and philosophical problem with each country looking back to their own experiences of repression whether these experiences are derived from Nazi oppression or communist oppression, sympathy and understanding of the plight of the refugees is blocking a coherent political solution.

13 hours ago, bert bloggs said:

With money in the bank, a home and familly a legal visa to live here ,pay my way ,put my son through school and university paying for  everything ,didnt come illegally. 

Try another ploy yours has been done to death

Right, so you aren’t a migrant?

2 minutes ago, soalbundy said:

In his position it would have been better to be discreet, he entered France illegally and then openly protests his living conditions. France, like the UK have seen a large influx of illegal immigrants and I can imagine that this is a frustrating situation for the police who are on the sharp end of law enforcement. There has to be political a response to this problem which can only come from the EU and therein lies the problem. It has become a moral and philosophical problem with each country looking back to their own experiences of repression whether these experiences are derived from Nazi oppression or communist oppression, sympathy and understanding of the plight of the refugees is blocking a coherent political solution.

Your post confuses illegal immigrants with refugees.

 

How we treat other human beings is always a material of morality.

7 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Your post confuses illegal immigrants with refugees.

 

How we treat other human beings is always a material of morality.

These days there is only a fine line between illegal immigrants fleeing poverty and refugees fleeing oppression, both have their merits and deserve sympathy but there is a political dimension to both.

 

If scientists are to be believed then the global warming in the future will unleash a tsunami of people fleeing not only high sea levels destroying living areas, wars, oppression and hunger but also unbearable heat. Northern Europe will be the first port of call and Europe is already an overloaded boat. Due to the lopsided demographics there will be the desire and necessity to take in an increasing number of educated young people to keep our systems working but there are limits requiring painful pragmatic decisions, limited resources and a tidal wave of immigrants are a recipe for disaster, bold (brutal even) decisions will have to be taken if anarchy in our own countries is to be avoided and it would be better lay the framework now (I'm certain that is secretly the case already) rather than ad hoc in the future.

44 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Right, so you aren’t a migrant?

 

6 minutes ago, soalbundy said:

These days there is only a fine line between illegal immigrants fleeing poverty and refugees fleeing oppression, both have their merits and deserve sympathy but there is a political dimension to both.

 

If scientists are to be believed then the global warming in the future will unleash a tsunami of people fleeing not only high sea levels destroying living areas, wars, oppression and hunger but also unbearable heat. Northern Europe will be the first port of call and Europe is already an overloaded boat. Due to the lopsided demographics there will be the desire and necessity to take in an increasing number of educated young people to keep our systems working but there are limits requiring painful pragmatic decisions, limited resources and a tidal wave of immigrants are a recipe for disaster, bold (brutal even) decisions will have to be taken if anarchy in our own countries is to be avoided and it would be better lay the framework now (I'm certain that is secretly the case already) rather than ad hoc in the future.

That the best you can do chomper? Thats just being silly

43 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Right, so you aren’t a migrant?

He is a financially independent long stay tourist with permission to stay in the country, there is a difference.

15 hours ago, smutcakes said:

Lol, says the bloke living in Thailand...

legally,self supporting,not belonging to a group of people parasitically living off the indigenous population whilst trying to impose alien social values upon them. I expect that the Thai police would take exception and react in an adverse manner if they encountered such a group of illegals.