Soloist quits Paris after being mugged twice in a day
NewsThe Swiss violinist Julie Berthollet has said she can no longer live in Paris after being attacked twice in the street in a single day.
She told a Swiss magazine: ‘It’s the total indifference (of passers-by) that I cannot bear.’
She added: ‘I don’t want to live in a place where individualism is omnipresent. I haven’t the shoulders to support this ambient violence.’
Julie, 25, was attacked first for her phone, then minutes later for her jewellery.
‘I have strong hands because of my violin playing, I resisted. I held tight to my iPhone and I shouted: ”Are you mad? Coward!” The individual left,’ she said.
But minutes later she had her bracelets and necklaces torn off by a knifeman at the entrance to a Metro station.
While I am certainly not happy about what has happened but I think it is rather irresponsible to walk the streets of somewhere like Paris bedecked in jewellery etc. One is a sitting duck.
Who says she was “bedecked in jewellery”? That’s your assumption.
Pure victim-blaming, well done.
Why has Simon Scott received nine dislikes for expressing common logic?
Mr. Lipinski, it seems that 9 dislikes are a little behind the times. Now the figure has reached almost 100! Not bad for one day I suppose!
Yes, victim’s fault, poor people who have to steal and mug, they should sue her…..
Lived in Paris my whole life, never witnessed or experienced such incidents. Like attracts like
What kind of odious comment is this? And the same to all of you who blame the victim for doing what women all over the world do – wear necklaces etc. I lived in Paris for three years, and I saw this kind of violence on a regular basis. And it is not racist to observe that, in every case I was involved in, it was young men from the Maghreb who were responsible. I used to play club rugby, so I was able to look after myself, but I tackled a guy who ripped off an old lady’s necklace on the metro right in front of me. I stopped 2 guys grabbing an old man’s cash at an ATM. I had a knife held to my throat in an elevator when I was working as pizza delivery guy. It happened all the time and to so many people I knew, too. Now we have a place in Barcelona – where I was also robbed as a student by three Moroccans – and we are seeing the same problem. Violent theft on a regular basis, given free rein by a far-left mayor. It has become a place where you can not wear a watch or a ring safely, or leave your phone out on the table at a restaurant, or carry anything valuable on you, tanks to a far-left mayor who doesn’t let the police investigate any reports of thefts valued at less than 1,000 euros in value. It’s open season on tourists. I caught a guy just a few months ago stealing a rucksack that a tourist had laid on the ground for a few minutes. But the act of calling it out, in today’s world, causes more offence than the offences themselves! All the PC posturing in the world will not alter the reality of massive crime accompanying migrations from the Maghreb and sub-saharan Africa. It is what it is, but it is undeniable.
Paris has become a human cesspool. I agree that what is even more disturbing than the rising level of crime is the far too often general indifference and coldness that French people show towards a person in distress. They are not a culture willing to offer help and assistance easily. That is not anything new and I have witnessed it and experienced it for decades. I recall an instance where a woman tripped and had a hard fall on the street and injured herself quite badly. A few people did stop to help, but there were several others who shouted reprimands at her and told her that it was her own fault and she deserved it, as she was wearing the wrong shoes! There are few places in the world where one can encounter such heartless, obnoxious and callous people.
Paris street delinquency is getting worse every year, while civil courage doesn’t improve.
Police, justice, education hospitals, industry, nothing works anymore.
Thanks to our politics, should I remind that the current Paris mayor Hidalgo got 1,7% at presidential election, Parisian are extatic because she got 2,5% there, even her own son didn’t vote for her. What did she do after this disaster? Nothing. That’s the kind of people who always has the words democracy or republic in the mouth but emptied the very meaning of it. People of her majority ask not to kill rats, one of the city numerous plague.
That’s how french democracy is sick with incompetent politician running and ruining the country for 30 years. It will not get better anytime soon. What happens in Paris happens every where else even in the country, not mentioning suburbs, which are like far west nowadays , our dear president called one of this charming neighborhood near famous Stade de France ‘California’ of France, so dynamic and full of promise. At this level of denial, there is no hope. She is right to leave.
Completely right.
Well, Parisians voted for a second term of mayor Hidalgo in 2020.
Confirmation bias steps in when we want to select events that substantiate our views. It’s easy to say Paris is a “human cesspool.” As a long-time resident of Paris I can think of numerous examples I have witnessed of bystander indifference. Some years ago I was walking up a street in the Bastille neighborhood lined with restaurants and cafés when I saw someone trip and fall in the street. I noticed that the only people who rushed to help all emerged from the foreign restaurants, and many looked Chinese. But to generalize to all French? I have also seen all types of people rush to help in similar circumstances in Paris.
In NYC I have seen many people spontaneously race to help others in need. But remember the terrible killing committed in a NYC courtyard years ago when dozens if not hundreds of apartment dwellers watched and did nothing. “Human cesspool”?
Do the notions of togetherness and community differ in Paris than other world capitals? Can what this woman experienced condemn a whole society? Or maybe the typical behavior of residents of Paris? Could she have been in the wrong place at the wrong time?
It’s too easy to cherry pick events to justify our prejudices.
John .she comes from Switzerland a country that does not have a lot of crime.
Also tight immigration laws and a well-armed population.
First of all, level of crime is not rising (except rape and domestic violence, which reflects rise in reported cases). If you had the patience to google statistics you would easily find out.
Secondly, your limited subjective experience does not speak for the entirety of Paris or France. Let’s recognize our limitations and stay humble instead of self-righteously looking down upon an entire population.
One mugging attempt would be bad enough. Two mugging attacks in one day is really awful, wherever it happens. I hope that Julie is OK.
Welcome to european leftist-green multiculturalist heaven!
Paris has always been a human cesspool…. read any Zola? Heard of Haussmann? Scratch the surface….it’s a very thin veneer.
Any mugger will never be able to steal your talent, Julie.
Being Franco-American, I always speak in English when in Paris. I’m treated with more respect by my own people!
I’m sorry this happened to her, and it surely would be traumatizing for anyone.
My questions, though, to provide a better idea of what occurred is to know in what area she was when this happened and, I know some people won’t like this question, the ethnicity of the muggers. These details are important. I live in Paris and I never feel unsafe in the center…but I also avoid going to some of the areas where there might be more chance of criminal activity and where certain demographics might create a less than safe atmosphere.
All big cities require “indifference” of passersby: we have too much going on and not enough time to get from one thing to another, there is no chance to stop and worry about what might be happening to someone else, it is just the nature of fast-paced places. She is Swiss…she doesn’t experience these things because the Swiss have some of the best Intolerance in all of Europe, maybe the world. They don’t allow people to be ‘too individualistic’ because then people would be able to get away with all sorts of undesirable behavior. This is why the rest of Europe keeps getting into trouble because they keep wanting to play the “Socialist” card instead of preserving culture properly like the Swiss do. I’m sorry this girl can’t see that.
Merci Anne!
I suspect the attackers were not “French” in the usual sense . . .
This is what happens when you have too much freedom and ‘rights’ you start abusing them.
What freedom and rights would those be?
I feel safer in Napoli!
Napoli is OK. Just leave the Rolex at home! I lived there for almost a year and never had a scrap of trouble.
Do I have to spell this out? Just don’t go around looking like a bloody Christmas tree. You will attract far less trouble. The sooner people realise this the better.