French Shari'a Watch
Sat, Mar 1, 2003 at 2:16:25 am PST
Muslim immigrants from North Africa have brought many of their cultural traditions to the French cites; traditions like misogyny, violence, and rape: Girls Terrorized in France's Macho High-Rise Ghettos.
Imprisoned behind yellowed curtains that hang limply at windows, they stay indoors to avoid the jeers, bullying and the ominous risk of rape that lurks in dingy stairwells where gangs of boys of mostly North African origin hang out.
"It's everywhere, all the time. Beatings, rapes, the lot. The worst is the names they call you, especially if you're dressed in a girly way which makes you a slut," says Amel, 21.
Home to many immigrants from the Maghreb, such suburbs have seen a rise in radical Islam that has turned attitudes toward women even harsher. Pressure is mounting for Muslim women to wear veils and forced marriages that snatch girls from college and a career are now commonplace.
Those that do not conform pay the price.
"The minute you show your face the insults start. You just put your head down and keep walking. The worst thing to do is answer back, because then they get aggressive," says Amel. ...
Vitry-sur-Seine, a Paris suburb that is striving to create a community spirit around its faded, pastel-colored high-rises, made headlines when Sohane Benziane, 17, was set alight in October by an 18-year-old boy whose friends stood nearby.
The teen-ager told police he was angry with Sohane for snubbing his advances when he lured her into a refuse depot, so he doused her with petrol and threatened her with a lighter.
The tragedy, which left Sohane rolling in agony on a patch of grass to try to extinguish the flames before she later died in hospital, was just the worst in a sea of attacks by minors.
