Artist creates comic guide to educate bystanders

temitope a

September 20, 2016 10:58 AM

A French artist has created a guide to show what to do when you witness an Islamophobic attack.

Islamophobic harassment guide

Recent terrorist attacks in France have set off a chain of events.

As a result of these, the Islamic community in France is under a lot of pressure. Also, there have been reports of increased Islamophobic harassment.

There has been public outrage both online and offline about some of the government's policies that are deemed unfair to Muslims, such as the burkini ban.

ALSO READ: How the French government is oppressing Muslim women

Maeril, a Paris-based artist decided to create a guide to teach bystanders how they can help victims of Islamophobic harrassment.

According to Maeril, she is more focused on helping Muslims who are unfairly treated and targeted simply because of their religion.

She says, "However I’m focusing on protecting Muslims here, as they have been very specific targets lately, and as a French Middle Eastern woman, I wanted to try and do something to raise awareness on how to help when such things happen before our eyes - that way one cannot say they 'didn’t know what to do!'"

Her advice is this, "Do not, in any way, interact with the attacker. You must absolutely ignore them and focus entirely on the person being attacked."

She also insists, "Please make sure to always respect the wishes of the person you’re helping: whether they want you to leave quickly afterwards, or not. If you’re in a hurry escort them to a place where someone else can take over - call one of their friends, or one of yours, of if they want to, the police. It all depends on how they feel."It's great to know that there is still some good left in the world, even though it is sad that someone has to create a guide to teach us how to be humane.

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