French police probe threats, hatred as LGBTQ icon forced to cancel show
French-Moroccan singer-songwriter Bilal Hassani has filed several legal complaints for incitement to hatred, violence and discrimination. The performer was forced to cancel a concert in the eastern French city of Metz last week after threats from religious and right-wing groups.
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Bilal Hassani, who represented France at Eurovision in 2019, was due to perform in a former Roman basilica, now a concert venue in the northeastern city of Metz, on 5 April.
A week before the show, the conservative Catholic group Lorraine Catholique called for the show's cancellation, describing the singer's performances as "pornographic".
In comments shared by far-right-linked outlets on social media, Lorraine Catholique urged believers to hold prayers outside the Saint-Pierre-Aux-Nonnains church against what it described as a "profanity" during the Holy Week leading up to Easter.
Their appeal was relayed on social networks raising fears that protests against the concert could get out of hand.
Hassani himself was threatened with an acid attack if he showed up, and has been the victim of a virulent hate campaign on internet.
Producers said they decided to call off the show at the last minute because of security concerns.
"We cannot let an event that was supposed to be a moment of joy, sharing and celebration become a site of tension and malicious intent," international organiser Live Nation said.
"The audience's security is our priority," it added.
The Metz prosecutor opened an investigation the day after the cancellation of the concert, to enquire into "incitement to hatred of a person because of their sexual orientation and public provocation", according to local media.
Hassani, who is on a nationwide tour told the French television show Quotidien on Tuesday that the legal complaints specifically target the far-right movement Aurora Lorraine, traditionalist Catholic group Civitas and a group known as Discussion Nation Metz.
full love ! On arrive sur la terre et c’est trop beau à voir https://t.co/mvlfj1p3p6
— Bilal Hassani (@iambilalhassani) April 11, 2023
Discussion Nation made "threatening remarks and wanted to carry out violent actions on the day of the concert", according to Amina Frühauf, Bilal Hassani's mother, who acts as his manager.
"I was afraid for my audience," the singer said.
Several individuals face police investigation for allegedly posting hate messages on Twitter.
Shame
France's Minister of Culture, Rima Abdul Malak, told France Inter radio last week she was "very concerned" by the threats and attacks against Hassani.
"These attacks against Bilal Hassani, these are neither more nor less homophobic attacks, transphobic attacks. It is the hatred of everything that approaches the queer universe", she said.
Metz culture official Patrick Thil said he was "ashamed for the city" after the cancellation, calling the concert's critics "uneducated extremists".
"Saint-Pierre-Aux-Nonnains is not even a church," he added. The former church was deconsecrated 150 years ago
Intellectual terrorism
The right-wing mayor of Metz, François Grosdidier, expressed regret over the cancellation saying that the producer of Hassani's tour had given in "to a form of intellectual terrorism, to the detriment of culture".
"I will always oppose obscurantism and extremism whatever they are," he said in a statement.
Hassani told television channel France 5 that he was "a little tired" of bearing the brunt of homophobic harassment campaigns on social networks for several years.
"I've been exposed for four years, I'm still a human being, I'm 23, I started when I was 19, it's a lot to carry on my shoulders," Hassani said.
The associations Stop Homophobia and Mousse have also filed a complaint against Civitas for discrimination on the basis of gender.
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