A 17-year-old asylum seeker has been arrested in the French city of Dijon after stabbing two teen African asylum seekers in a large inter-ethnic brawl between Pakistani and African migrants.
The African teen victims, aged around 15, were taken to the hospital after one was stabbed in the arm and the other stabbed in the chest by the 17-year-old Pakistani origin male. Neither victim is said to have life-threatening injuries, regional daily newspaper Le Bien Public reports.
The mass brawl occurred last Wednesday but details of the victims remained unknown until Sunday. Investigators are still attempting to piece together the initial reasons for the brawl between the two groups of young asylum seekers who are all said to be living in foster homes in the city. Police say they are still looking for the leaders of the two groups.
The bout of inter-ethnic violence is just the latest in France since the height of the migrant crisis in 2015. Earlier this year, migrants from Afghanistan clashed with groups of migrants from Eritrea, leading to 22 individuals being injured and five receiving gunshot wounds. In total, the mass brawls involved some 30 Afghans and up to 100 Eritreans who were armed with iron bars.
Inter-ethnic violence has not been limited to France, either. In Germany, several mass brawls between rival migrant groups have occurred following the migrant crisis, most recently in Duisburg where 50 men from migrant backgrounds attacked each other, armed with machetes and other weapons.
According to a report from the German Association of Cities, inter-ethnic tensions are on the rise throughout the country as young migrant criminal gangs have cropped up in cities like Berlin where they deal drugs in areas like Alexanderplatz. The area has been labelled a “no-go zone” as a result of the rampant criminality and has seen a significant rise in sex attacks.