Bilal Hassani files a complaint after the cancellation of his concert under pressure from online harassers – Liberation

2023-04-29 19:02:42

After a surge of hatred, a concert by the singer, figure of the LGBT + community, had been canceled in Metz. Bilal Hassani finally filed a complaint on Friday.

Bilal Hassani will not leave the last word to his harassers. The lawyers of the singer, claimed standard bearer of the LGBT + community, whose concert had been canceled in Metz after an outpouring of hatred, filed a complaint with the Metz prosecutor, AFP learned on Saturday April 29. The complaint was filed Friday on the counts of “public and direct provocation to commit a crime or misdemeanour”, “provocation to discrimination, hatred or violence”, “threat and harassment”.

“It’s a simple complaint against X to which we have attached all the identifying elements on which we want the investigators to focus”said Isabelle Wekstein and Clara Steg, lawyers at the Paris bar. “We identified individuals or identity groups who sent hateful messages, even after the cancellation of the concert, towards our client”they added.

The lawyers say they are continuing their “ant work” scouring social media. “When a violent tweet has 500,000 views, we cannot consider that there is no responsibility behind it”, they argued. Due to threats made against the artist and his audience, Live Nation, producer of Bilal Hassani’s tour, had decided to cancel the concert scheduled for April 5 in an old church that had been desecrated for 500 years.

“Desecration”

Opposed to this concert, the collective Lorraine Catholique had shouted at the “desecration”, in the middle of Holy Week, in a message on his widely relayed blog. Supported by Civitas, it called for “come to pray the rosary” before the concert, in front of the old church. The singer and his mother then expressed their intention to file a complaint on the set of C to you.

The Metz public prosecutor’s office had seized itself and had opened, on April 6, an investigation against X on the counts of “threats of offense and incitement to hatred or violence against a person because of sexual orientation” and ” direct and public incitement to commit a felony or misdemeanour.

In this case, the associations Stop Homophobia and Mousse have also filed a complaint against the association of traditionalist Catholics Civitas for discrimination on the basis of gender identity.