Schoolgirl left in coma after attack for un-Islamic dress

A 14-YEAR-OLD girl was severely wounded and left in a coma after being beaten outside her school by three other teenagers over what, her mother suggested, could have been down to un-Islamic behaviour.

The French government has launched an investigation over the attack in the southern city of Montpelier, which has caused political uproar.

It came days after the head teacher of a Parisian school resigned in the wake of death threats after she asked a student to remove her Muslim veil, sparking widespread outrage.

The victim, named Samara, is out of her coma but was “seriously wounded” in the attack on Tuesday afternoon outside the Arthur Rimbaud College in Montpelier. The school is in the La Mosson-La Paillade district, a low-income suburb with many residents of immigrant origin, prosecutors said.

One of the accused is a girl from the same school, also 14, who was arrested on Wednesday and admits to having beaten the victim, Montpellier prosecutors said in a statement. The two other minors arrested are aged 14 and 15.

The victim’s mother, Hassiba, said: “I don’t understand this child’s reasons for constantly attacking Samara, but I think it’s... the fact that [Samara]... is maybe a little more liberated than some students,” she told broadcaster BFMTV.

“Samara wears a bit of make-up. And this young girl [who attacked Samara] wears a veil. All day long, she called her a kouffar, which means miscreant in Arabic. My daughter dresses in European style. All day long there were insults, she was called a kahba, which means c--t in Arabic. It was physically and psychologically unbearable.”

The victim’s mother accused this classmate of being the “sponsor” of the attack and claimed they had been suspended for two days in June 2023, having posted a photo of her daughter on social media calling for her to be raped.

Suggestions the incident may have been related to religion sparked a flurry of reaction from politicians.

Marine Le Pen of the hard-Right National Rally took direct aim at “Islamism, which is attacking our children”.

She said: “It’s time to declare war on this totalitarianism that is attacking our children.”

Jordan Bardella, the party’s candidate in the European elections, added: “Schools are facing an Islamist offensive and an outburst of violence that must be stopped as a matter of urgency.”

On the left, MP Sandrine Rousseau denounced an “absolutely, totally sexist attack” pointing out that “all women have the right to dress as they wish”.