Her name and her face have become in a few days the symbol of a sad plague, an evil that gnaws and kills: bullying. A plague that killed Alisha, 14, who drowned in the Seine on March 8 afterwards. being severely beaten by two of her 15-year-old comrades.
His death upsets France. More than 2,000 people attended a white march this Sunday in Argenteuil, with t-shirts bearing his effigy and white flowers in hand. Many parents with their children had come to pay homage to this teenage girl described as “discreet” and “happy”.
Alisha’s mother is collected, upset. Alisha was dreaming “accountant”, she confided, during a speech, to the side of the father. “She was very serious at school, a good student. She is a wonderful girl, helpful, besides being my best friend.”
“I can’t believe what’s happening to me. His sudden and violent departure keeps me awake. I can’t sleep anymore. I wait every day for my daughter to come home. Alisha I miss me, I feel alone, a part of me has been torn away “, said Alisha’s mother, torn with emotion.
“Stop harassment”, “justice for Alisha” : signs were brandished to denounce school bullying, more relevant than ever and reinforced by social networks.
The role of social networks
Because before the murder, Alisha was first the victim of harassment on the Snapchat social network. Photos of her in her underwear are circulating. Two comrades ambush him in the afternoon of March 8. In a place away from the homes, she was said to have been brutally beaten and then thrown into the river, still conscious.
The two teenagers, a boy and a girl, were indicted for murder and placed in pre-trial detention on Thursday. According to the prosecution, the relations between the three young people, friends at the start, would have deteriorated over time, because of love affairs and teenage “trivia”.
Things had escalated to the point that their high school had temporarily excluded the two suspects for the victim’s harassment. The two indicted were to pass a disciplinary council the day after the tragedy.
2 out of 10 students
Faced with the emotion aroused by the drama, the Minister responsible for Citizenship Marlène Schiappa announced on Sunday the creation of a “committee against harassment” to strengthen parents’ vigilance and better “equip” to deal with this scourge.
“Cyberbullying must be punished more severely”, also declared in Le Parisien on Sunday the Minister of National Education, Jean-Michel Blanquer.
Because there is a lot to do. A UNESCO study estimates that around two in ten students experience bullying at school. A phenomenon still too underestimated and faced with which parents sometimes have too few weapons. In France, 700,000 students would be affected.
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