Six young people from Paris were sentenced on Friday to two to six years in prison by the Bobigny criminal court for robbery with violence "
because of ethnicity
" on twenty people of Chinese origin, in Seine-Saint -Denis and in Paris.
Read also: Thefts and assaults against Chinese: up to seven years in prison required against six young people
Aged 18 to 21 at the time of the facts, the six young people were prosecuted for having committed a dozen violent assaults between August and October 2018 in Paris, la Courneuve, Pantin and Aubervilliers.
In this popular city of Seine-Saint-Denis, 10,000 people from China work on the first European textile import-export platform.
Posted at the exit of the restaurants frequented by the Asian community, the young people involved acted according to a “
methodical
”
modus operandi
showing a “
real professionalism
”, described Thursday the prosecutor.
They then followed their victims, all of Chinese origin, “
to their homes
” where they “
violently
”
attacked
and robbed them.
All these organized robberies were committed "
because of ethnicity,
" she stressed, retaining the racist character as an aggravating circumstance.
Two to three thefts with violence on Asian people take place each week in Seine-Saint-Denis, according to the prosecutor.
In 2016, Chaolin Zhang, a 49-year-old Chinese fashion designer, died in Aubervilliers following a robbery with violence.
After his death, thousands of people marched in the streets of Paris and Aubervilliers to denounce “
anti-Asian racism
”.