A man was stabbed to death in a Paris metro station as onlookers filmed and posted photographs on social media, according to local reports.
Andy Brigitte, 22, from Martinique was knifed in Châtelet-Les Halles RER station at around 6 p.m on Jan. 12, after a heated row when he bumped into another passenger, according to Le Parisien.
Speaking to RCI Martinique, Brigitte’s mother said, “Nobody lifted a finger to help Andy.”
“Today, social media is too present. No one came to my son’s aid. Instead, they filmed it and shared it on social media,” she said in tears.
She added, “My son lived with my sister in Essonne. He was working as a mechanic in the army. ... He was waiting for the metro and now his life is ruined!”
“He lay in agony on the ground while passengers, rather than help him, filmed him and posted images on Snapchat, the French news magazine L'Obs reported.
Brigitte, who had been living in the region of Essonne in France, was stabbed repeatedly by an unnamed 33-year-old man from Melun, Seine-et-Marne. The attacker tried to flee the scene but was arrested by police, according to Euronews.
“Nobody helped Andy,” Andy’s aunt, Betty Mélinard said.“Maybe Andy would still be alive if these people had helped him instead of filming his agony,” reported Le Parisien, citing Martinique 1ère, breaking news services.
As news of the stabbing, that was witnessed by a hundred passengers, rippled through social media, many were left indignant and the hashtag #Chatelet caught on.
“Oh ok. In 2018, we die in front of a camera without any help,” one person tweeted, according to Le Parisien.
Journalist Christine Kelly wrote: “He is 22 years old. He died from the stabbing in Châtelet under the watchful eye of 450 cameras and 10 witnesses. For a simple knock. Nobody moves. Nobody helps him. But everyone ... films. It’s unbearable.”
Etienne Cruello wrote: “A thought for Andy ... how to sleep in the face of so much violence and human stupidity. ’The only thing we learn from death is that it is urgent to love.’ #Andy and not #chatelet because it was a person, a son, a brother, a cousin, a human being.”
His family has launched an online campaign to collect funds to take his body back to Martinique.
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