Flowers laid by shopkeepers, neighbors, and residents, in front of a hair salon where Hichem Miraoui, who was killed in a racist murder, worked, in the southern French town of Puget-sur-Argens, on June 3, 2025. THEO GIACOMETTI/HANS LUCAS FOR LE MONDE
On the last Saturday in May, Suzana F. changed her mind. For several months, she had stopped inviting Christophe and Elodie (her first name has been changed) Belgembe to the lively, alcohol-fueled meals that she often organized at her home in southern France. According to her, the Belgembes, a couple of street vendors from the town of Puget-sur-Argens, near the French Riviera, drank too much. Elodie would fall asleep drunk in the middle of the party, while Christophe had "two personalities" when he was under the influence, Suzana F., a Portuguese woman in her forties, working as a sales manager in the construction industry, said, while being questioned by investigators from the DGSI, France's domestic intelligence agency. At first "cheerful" and "funny," she said Christophe really "set the mood" – until the moment when he would flare up, ranting about his aversions and obsessions. "The more time passed, the more he would talk about Muslim people. He went on and on about it, talking in terms that could seem racist," Suzana F. said.
