“I stay deeply shocked.” For per week, brutal photographs have been enjoying on a loop within the head of Ewan Ange*, 22 years previous. Final Thursday, at lunchtime on the ground of a McDonald’s within the sixth arrondissement of Marseillethe younger man was the sufferer of a violent homophobic attack when he had simply sat all the way down to eat with a buddy.
The singer, adopted by a number of thousand folks on social networks, explains that he was acknowledged by a gaggle of younger people. “They instantly insulted me: “It’s the PD de TikTok“, he remembers. He decides to report it to the restaurant workers, however the scenario escalates and the insults rain down. Ewan movies himself to maintain proof of the details.
On-line beatings and insults
“One of many people will get up, he grabs me by the collar, I attempt to push him away, he throws himself at me,” he remembers. Punches, kicks, hair pulling… The minutes move, seeming to final hours. “Underneath the gaze of these current who have been filming and laughing.” The director of the institution finally ends up separating them, however the threats proceed. The group even waits for Ewan Ange on the exit, then leaves the scene earlier than the police arrive. Upset, the singer filed a criticism, supported specifically by the affiliation Stop Homophobia. He additionally decides to broadcast the video and publicize the case to lift consciousness.
However the nightmare doesn’t finish. Because the video was broadcast on social networks, shared quite a few instances, harassment is also online. “I obtain insults, threats, folks agree with what occurred and there’s no consciousness,” he laments. In a press launch printed on his Instagram account, his lawyer, Me Laura Tafani, mentions a “ surge of digital hatred » and proclaims that “felony complaints might be filed with the general public prosecutor in opposition to every Web consumer who has uttered demise threats and insults”. “The digital house will not be a lawless zone”, remembers the textual content of his recommendation.
“We take too many dangers simply by current”
“I used to be already attacked a yr in the past, on a bus. I obtain insults and spitting every day… However right here, the beatings are actually critical,” factors out Ewan Ange. Very current on the networks and within the streets of Marseille, the place he’s used to performing to make his music recognized, he’s now questioning about this exhibition. “I’ll maybe decelerate on coming into contact with the general public, within the streets,” he whispers. That is what I like however it’s harmful: we take too many dangers by going out, simply by current. »
The Marseillais is all of the extra shocked as a result of he doesn’t acknowledge his metropolis, “which usually displays open-mindedness and tolerance”. “I even puzzled if I used to be going to remain right here. I’m afraid of individuals’s insanity and injustice,” he whispers, pointing to a “regression” in all places in France for folks LGBTI +. He now hopes for a conviction by the courts for his bodily attackers, but in addition on-line, with the intention to elevate “consciousness”. ” L’homophobia is trivialized,” he insists.
Within the meantime, he can rely on the assist of his family members and the municipality. “I acquired a message from the mayor, Benoit Payanit touched me deeply,” he confides. A gathering is deliberate between the younger man and the city corridor for this Satisfaction month. Nonetheless traumatized, Ewan Ange rebuilds himself by means of music and has already written a track concerning the assault: Robust. “The textual content got here to me following what occurred. It’s a message of hope to rework struggling and really feel united in instances after we would possibly really feel alone.”
* Ewan Ange is the pseudonym utilized by the younger man on social networks.
