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The Paris Prosecutor’s Office has opened a criminal investigation into a chat group on the U.S. social media platform “X” (formerly Twitter) that reportedly contained calls for mass attacks on Muslims and civilians of Arab origin, as well as calls for murder.
Operative Information Center-OMM reports, citing French media, that law enforcement authorities have launched a broad investigation into extremist messages in the chat group on suspicion of “incitement to hatred or violence on racial grounds” and “public calls to commit a terrorist act.”
Messages included in the investigation contain radical and terrorist statements such as “This is not a country for Arabs,” “We need to take advantage of street prayers, because they all gather in one place,” and “A large number of people must be eliminated.”
Thomas Portes, a French lawmaker from the La France Insoumise (LFI) party, posted several screenshots from the private chat group on his official “X” account on Oct. 25. He condemned the calls for mass killings and the incitement of racial and religious hatred, and said he had filed an official complaint with the Paris prosecutor’s office.
The escalation in anti-Muslim rhetoric came shortly after a shooting on Oct. 23 in France’s Yvelines department. One person was killed and seven others sustained injuries of varying severity.
French President Emmanuel Macron described the incident as a terrorist act motivated by racism and far-right ideology. The country’s security services have stepped up monitoring of extremist groups seeking to undermine domestic stability and users spreading hatred on social media.
