According to reports, a Muslim barmaid working in Nice, France, was badly beaten by a group of passers by for serving alcohol during the holy month of Ramadan.
The young barmaid was alone in the bar, when two passersby stormed in and shouted in Arabic "you should be ashamed of serving alcohol during Ramadan," adding "if I was God, I would have you hanged."
The attackers initially left the premises, but returned soon after and set about the woman, bruising her and knocking her to the ground in shock. The incident was captured on CCTV and subsequently reported to the police. The victim told the French newspaper Nouvel Obs:
"Serving alcohol doesn't mean I'm not following my [religious] duties. I'm doing it because I am a bartender. In Tunisia, I do the same job and I never had any problems… I can't believe that in France, the country of liberty, that I could be attacked like this."
This is not the first time such an incident has occurred in Nice. In fact, just two years ago a Muslim bakery was subjected to vandalism as a result of its owner's decision to sell pork.
The attack in Nice comes at a time when tensions are already running high in Europe, with many viewing the recent rise in far right political sentiment, as a response to a series of sexual assaults blamed on Muslim refugees — most notably, in Cologne earlier this year.
It was however, discovered afterwards that Muslim men accounted for just a small proportion of multiple sex crimes carried out Cologne's station on New Year's eve.
Switzerland also found itself engulfed in a scandal, after Muslim boys refused to shake hands with a female school teacher, and Germany has suggested closer monitoring of mosques and imams by law enforcement agencies amidst fears that newly arriving refugees may be becoming "radicalized."
The holy month of Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, and is observed through fasting in commemoration of the first revelation of the Qur'an to Muhammad, according to Islamic belief. Islam generally forbids the consumption of any intoxicants — alcohol in particular — though this applies at all times, not just during the month of Ramadan.
