On September 11^th, while the whole world was sparing a thought for the victims of the World Trade Centre attack, another kind of assault hit the city of Nice, in the south of France.

Indeed, on the early morning, a jeweller was opening his shop when two armed robbers burst in it, pointing a gun at him to make him open his safe. This one obeyed but didn’t stand idly by this and shot at the two fugitives, reaching one of them at the back. This last was found dead in a nearby street, while the other ran away.

The jeweller - Stéphane Turk - is now in custody and will be soon taken to court for involuntary manslaughter.

While the affair is not resolved yet, a new polemic inflated. Indeed, as soon as the news has been known in the media, a Facebook page in backup for the jeweller has been created. For many people, the jeweller is just a victim that tried to protect his job and shouldn’t be judged for murder – it was just self-defence. “He did that to protect himself, otherwise he would have been shot on site” explained one of his attorneys, Franck de Vita, in Le Monde. So does think one of the backup Facebook page fans, quoted in Le Huffington Post : “His act is called self-defence, we would all have done the same”.

Last Sunday, the page soon recorded 1.4 million likes, people manifesting a strong interest in the topic. But this raising interest made people question themselves. The speed of liking increased too fast in their opinion. Should we suspect some likes purchase? Those last do think they were too many reacts from people from anywhere in the world but France, what could make us think so. However, Guilhem Fouetillou, co-creator of Linkfluence agency, explains for I-télé that « fans purchasing is a widespread practise », but in this case, « nothing can let us think of a cheating ». Likewise, the owner of the page, a young student willing to stay anonymous, defends himself, presenting screenshots to prove the legitimacy of the posts. In addition, there are 250 000 comments from real profiles that can’t be denied, and a thousand people, from what its organisers say, that gathered last Monday in Nice to express their backup to the jeweller and their gloominess about insecurity. This demonstration, organised by nearby shop-owners, is more likely to have mobilised 800 people according to the police.

Picture credit : BEP

Emeline DUCLOS

Controversial on the Nice’s jeweller’s backup

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