Anti-extremism marcher reaches Paris on fifth anniversary of brother’s killings

Abdelghani Merah symbolically chose to arrive in Paris on the fifth anniversary of the most shocking of his brother’s killings.

Abdelghani Merah arriving on Sunday, March 19, 2017 at the Bataclan concert hall - the scene of a terrorist attack over a year ago, in Paris. Five years after his brother Mohamed Merah killed seven peShow more

Abdelghani Merah reached Paris at the end of an extraordinary march against extremism on Sunday, exactly five years after his brother Mohamed murdered three children and a teacher at Jewish school to become one of France’s most notorious terrorists.

Mr Merah, 40, said he was “tired but content” after a 40-day trek aimed at raising awareness not only in Muslim communities, but also among the authorities, of the “predators who steal the heart and minds of young people”.

As he reached the heart of the capital, he paused to pay homage to victims of terrorism at the Bataclan concert hall, scene of the bloodiest of the attacks that took 130 lives on November 13, 2015.

"It was a very emotional moment for me," he told The National. "So many attacks have happened since my brother committed his terrible crimes. Our communities must rise on their own initiative against those who instil hatred in people, almost with impunity.

“My family name is used in relation to evil terrorist atrocities. I hope my gesture means it can now be used to awaken consciences and show that the dangers of radicalisation are much greater even than we believe.”

Mr Merah symbolically chose to arrive in Paris on the fifth anniversary of the most shocking of his brother’s killings.

On March 19, 2012, with France then in the midst of a presidential election campaign as it is now, Mohamed shot dead three Jewish children aged between three and eight, and the father of two of them, at a school in the south-western city of Toulouse.

Days earlier, he had killed three French soldiers, two of them of North African Muslim origin, in other attacks carried out in Toulouse and the nearby town of Montauban. He was killed in a shoot-out with police on March 22.

Although Mohamed Merah had pledged allegiance to Al Qaeda, whose Algerian affiliate Jund Al Khalifa issued two statements admitting responsibility for his killings, his brother believes he acted under the influence of another sibling, Abdelkader, now facing trial accused of complicity in the murders.

Supporters of Mr Merah say it is a wonder he became the person he is, implacably opposed to extremism, after growing up in a family where the parents saw the September 11 attacks on the United States as a cause for celebration.

It was not lost on Mr Merah that even as he neared his final destination, a man was killed when apparently about to commit a “lone wolf” attack at Paris’s Orly airport on Saturday morning. “It feels like almost every day I was on the road, listening to the radio and wondering what the latest terrorist incident would be,” he said.

A heavy bag strapped to his back, modern music from his native Algeria playing in his earphones and one arm limp from a road accident that has left him unemployed despite his training as a gardener, Mr Merah covered 1,009 kilometres on a trek that began in the southern port of Marseilles on February 8.

In the earlier stages of his march, he followed the route of the 1983 March of the Beurs, when demonstrators opposing racism and demanding equality also walked to Paris from the south of France.

He made detours to cover places that have experienced the radicalisation of young Muslims, sometimes leading to terrorist involvement.

In Paris, he was greeted by supporters of La Brigade des Meres, an organisation of mothers fighting the spread of extremism among the disenchanted offspring of Maghrebin parents.

The group, which provided some financial and logistical support during Mr Merah's march, was founded by Nadia Remadna, a French-Algerian mother who received repeated threats after publishing a book called How I Saved My Children. Its subtitle was especially striking: Once We Feared Our Children Would Be Delinquents, Now We Worry They'll Become Terrorists.

Mr Merah’s gesture was widely acclaimed, especially by those committed to improving community relations and striving to end radicalisation in France’s typically impoverished and consequently resentful Muslim ghettos.

But there was some criticism too. A ceremony was also held on Sunday in front of the school where Mohamed Merah killed the Jewish children.

Speaking to France Info radio, Samuel Sandler, whose son and two grandsons were among the victims of that shooting, said he was shocked not by the initiative but by a choice of arrival date he considered “obscene”.

Mr Merah said he understood the anger and sadness of those bereaved by his brother’s actions, and shared such sentiments. He also offered no criticism of France’s justice ministry for making no official available to greet him, as he had hoped, in Paris.

“I have come more and more to think of myself as French,” said Mr Merah, who was born in Algeria and has not yet been able to complete procedures to become a French citizen.

“But I will not even express pride in what I have done. It seemed to me the right and necessary thing to do and I am content. I ask for nothing from France in return.”