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How an internet hoax about a 'white van kidnapper' sparked violence in Paris

A court hearing referred to the incident this week as “collective hysteria”.

HOW DID AN internet hoax about kidnappers driving white vans lead to “collective hysteria” and near-lynchings in the Paris suburbs this week?

Experts say it is a combination of old-fashioned prejudice and modern technology.

Around 20 people were arrested on Monday night after gangs of vigilantes attacked camps of ethnic Roma people in northeast Paris after false reports that they were responsible for abductions in the area using white vans.

One senior police officer in the area had issued a written warning earlier in the day saying that a form of “psychosis” had set in as people shared warnings on messaging services such as Snapchat and WhatsApp and social media like Facebook.

“There’s a Romanian network of organ traffickers. They’re everywhere in the suburbs,” wrote one user in an online post above a picture of the ubiquitous white van, a common sight on French streets.

During a court hearing on Wednesday, where three suspected vigilantes aged 18 to 21 appeared before magistrates, public prosecutor Denis Fauriat referred to “collective hysteria”.

The violence, which recalled similar incidents in India, Brazil and Mexico in recent years, again underlined the difficulty for governments in controlling the flow of false information in today’s hyper-connected world.

But like many online hoaxes – or offline rumour-mongering – the warnings bring to mind some infamous cases from the past, making them sound plausible.

Unverified information

Aurore Van de Winkel, an academic who tracks urban legends and hoaxes, says French people are still traumatised by the serial killers Marc Dutroux and “the Ogre of the Ardennes” Michel Fourniret who used white vans to abduct their victims.

“There have been real cases,” she told AFP. “People want to protect their loved ones with a click of the mouse, as they used to do in person, so they share the information. They’re bombarded with information and they don’t verify it.”

Warnings about white van kidnappers have been documented in France since at least 2011 in the Drome area of south-east France, the central Loiret region and the Pas-de-Calais area in the north among others.

They usually entail a message warning about suspicious people approaching children or women and include a picture of a van, or a first-person account from someone recounting how a family member or friend has gone missing.

The phenomenon became so widespread that French satirical website Le Gorafi published a joke article in 2013 entitled “the suspicious man in a white van who asked for directions from some children was just asking for directions”.

Old prejudices, new twist

But experts say darker forces of prejudice and racism are at play, which are nothing new but have been supercharged by the internet and modern communications.

In 1969, French author Edgar Morin published a book called The Rumour of Orleans which recounted the origins of stories in which young women were said to be disappearing at clothing shops owned by Jews in the central French town.

Speaking this week, he saw a parallel with the attacks in Paris on ethnic Roma people, some of whom saw their vans set on fire and their families terrorised by mobs carrying petrol cans and metal bars.

“In both cases, the rumour is about a minority which is seen as having something mysterious and worrying about them,” he told Le Parisien newspaper.

“It taps into things which are anchored in our beliefs and prejudices, i.e. that the Romas are thieves,” he added.

Communities of Roma people have lived in France for centuries, but tens of thousands more moved from Bulgaria and Romania in southeast Europe after the countries joined the EU in 2004.

The traditionally nomadic people, who are sometimes called Roms or gypsies, are thought to number around six million in the EU and are considered to be the bloc’s largest and poorest minority, according to the Council of Europe human rights body.

‘Tipping point’

Rumours of kidnappings spread on phone messaging service Whatsapp led to the deaths of 30 people in India last year, including a transgender woman and an elderly woman who handed out chocolates to children.

A Brazilian woman died after being beaten in the street in the coastal town of Guaruja, near Sao Paulo, in 2014 over false Facebook rumours that she abducted children for witchcraft rituals.

“I think we’re at a sort of tipping point. We’re seeing the direct effects of violence and hate speech that is spread on the internet,” said Marie Peltier, an academic at the Haute Ecole Galilee in Brussels who has written a book about conspiracy theories.

“We’re seeing more and more cases of theories propagated on the internet crossing over into real life,” she told AFP.

© – AFP, 2019

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    Mute speedy
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    Jul 21st 2021, 7:20 AM

    If the British side break the protocol to suit a few hardline unionists in the north then I hope the eu come down hard on them for breaking an international trade agreement and they are punished by extra tariffs.johnson,Cummings and frost will bring Britain back to the stone age

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    Mute Joe Johnson
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    Jul 21st 2021, 9:54 AM

    @speedy: Yes agree and their US trade deal is then history.

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    Mute Mark H
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    Jul 21st 2021, 10:34 AM

    @speedy: if they eliminate checks etc the UK will just become a back door to the EU. No way EU could agree to it. If UK want frictionless trade with the EU, you need to be in the EU. Johnson and his crew are just playing for the UK press… The big bad EU…. Actually it’s the petulant arrogant UK… But facts don’t matter to them.

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    Mute Diarmuid Hunt
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    Jul 21st 2021, 10:53 AM

    @Mark H: They don’t even have to be in the EU, just be part of the customs union, which was on offer to them while negotiating. Remember the Norway style deal that was talked of… yeah.

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    Mute iohanx
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    Jul 21st 2021, 1:54 PM

    @Mark H:

    To use a Wembley analogy, they’re trying to get in for free!

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    Mute Niall O
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    Jul 21st 2021, 3:17 PM

    @Diarmuid Hunt: Or agree to have a mechanism where the standards will be the same or equivalent. Not the “let’s pretend that our standards are equivalent, even though we might deviate from EU standards”

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    Mute Barry Lynch
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    Jul 21st 2021, 3:46 PM

    @speedy: you forgot Lord Rees of the Moggs.

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    Mute James McErlain
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    Jul 21st 2021, 6:31 PM

    @speedy: Cummings?

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    Mute Gary Kearney
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 11:22 AM

    @Mark H: When have the facts ever mattered to any British Government.

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    Mute Mícheál
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    Jul 21st 2021, 8:08 AM

    wow is this for real .. how can any country any foreign trade minister sign an agreement with Great Britain in the knowledge that they will sign it and then change it to suit themselves, seriously who do these people think they are

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    Mute frank_66
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    Jul 21st 2021, 7:18 AM

    The uk starting to dictate to EU but I think they are wasting their time as the protocol is what they signed up for and the DUP campaigned hard for brexit

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    Mute Fr. Fintan Stack
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    Jul 21st 2021, 7:24 AM

    An “honesty box” ? Yeah, that should work out well.

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    Mute Jayne
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    Jul 21st 2021, 8:05 AM

    @Fr. Fintan Stack: Ha, yeah I laughed out loud at that part. What could possibly go wrong?!

    226
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    Mute David Van-Standen
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    Jul 21st 2021, 9:04 AM

    After years of waiting for the UK to reveal its frictionless technological solution to eliminate customs checks for goods entering Northern Ireland, we are presented with the honesty box!

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    Mute jerry slattery
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    Jul 21st 2021, 8:08 AM

    Breaking the protocol and putting the Good Friday agreement in danger will do them no favors on Capitol Hill .

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    Mute Hugh Mc Donnell
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    Jul 21st 2021, 7:48 AM

    The tories should have been honest in the very beginning with the electorate

    265
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    Mute Niall Lee
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    Jul 21st 2021, 2:53 PM

    @Hugh Mc Donnell: Tories honest…. That shouldn’t be in the one sentence

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    Mute Tony Gordon
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    Jul 21st 2021, 3:14 PM

    @Niall Lee: it’s called an oxymoron

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    Mute Francis Devenney
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    Jul 21st 2021, 9:56 AM

    They used to say “The sun never sets on the empire” I think that’s because even God wouldn’t trust them in the dark.

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    Mute Tony Gordon
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    Jul 21st 2021, 3:15 PM

    @Francis Devenney: or it’s because it never rose in the first place (still in the dark ages)

    40
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    Mute Handsome McWonderful
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    Jul 21st 2021, 8:17 AM

    The Brits are at it again.

    266
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    Mute Fachtna Roe
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    Jul 21st 2021, 12:21 PM

    @Handsome McWonderful: Evidence in support:

    https://arethebritsatitagain.org/

    64
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    Mute Accidental Gentleman
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    Jul 21st 2021, 10:08 AM

    If Brexit has taught us anything, it is that the UK can’t be trusted to tell the truth.

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    Mute David Stapleton
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    Jul 21st 2021, 8:27 AM

    So the only way to make the protocol work is to ignore it and the agreement they signed up to.

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    Mute Darren McEneaney
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    Jul 21st 2021, 9:43 AM

    You’d swear they didn’t help write the thing with the way they’re carrying on

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    Mute Rochelle
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    Jul 21st 2021, 12:42 PM

    Honestly I think it’s just time to take a hard line with Britain, they haven’t approached negotiations in good faith since the outset and seem to think every agreement and promise they’ve made in the past can be broken as they please.

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    Mute Gary G
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    Jul 21st 2021, 10:15 AM

    A tinpot country run by a despot would have more integrity and competence than this lot. Only option now for the EU is hard retaliatory punitive tariffs which will paint these delinquants as the victims for ignoring the deal they made an international law treaty. This statement will be the malicious falsehood that they ever intended to honour or implement the protocol. England / UK is sinking down the toilet under that joke Johnson.

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    Mute Brian Kelly
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    Jul 21st 2021, 9:10 AM

    Really! An honesty box!? I wouldn’t trust the Brits as far as I could throw them!!! What a laugh…

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    Mute MrHammey12
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    Jul 21st 2021, 9:56 AM

    Oh hahaha let’s sign an honesty box with all the cocaine producing countries too!

    113
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    Mute John Vectravi
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    Jul 21st 2021, 3:19 PM

    The NIP was a concession made to the UK by the EU. The UK made the argument that they would implement the checks when they formulated the agreement. All the EU has asked for is that the UK comply with their side of the agreement.
    Today it was stated in the UK parliament that UK suppliers are deciding not to export goods into NI because of the hassle of complying they can’t be bothered to do the necessary paperwork.
    NI are in a unique position that the protocol allows them to export goods into the EU and also into the UK without restrictions. Most UK companies would give their right arm to be able to do the same.
    So, where does the problem seem to be…… The DUP.

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    Mute The Mrs O’B
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    Jul 21st 2021, 1:23 PM

    They need to realise this is not like one of Boris’ revolving marriages – negotiated it, signed up for it – stuck with it -

    81
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    Mute SheepleDog
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    Jul 21st 2021, 11:48 AM

    Global warming, pandemic, age of online misinformation, asymmetric warfare, ransomware, rise of far-right…..and the English; was it ever thus!

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    Mute Irish big fellow
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    Jul 21st 2021, 3:02 PM

    UK should need to consult the dictionary to study the meaning of “honesty “ and then try and understand why other EU countries do not trust them in particular when Johnson is in charge.

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    Mute David Lynch
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    Jul 21st 2021, 12:29 PM

    Wish someone would just tell them to feck off

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    Mute Adrian O'Donnell
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    Jul 21st 2021, 4:04 PM

    @David Lynch: we did, they only got three quarters of the message

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    Mute J Flood
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    Jul 21st 2021, 2:05 PM

    More of the same BS. How long did it take the UK to “negotiate” Brexit?

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    Mute Pádraic Ó Braonáin
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    Jul 21st 2021, 2:29 PM

    Unbelievable arrogance!

    Any nation thinking of doing a trade deal with the UK (under this current government) should think hard and tread cautiously – better still – save yourselves a massive headache – just don’t do it.

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    Mute
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    Jul 21st 2021, 4:22 PM

    U.K attempting to move the goalposts while the match is being played

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    Mute Jim Doherty
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    Jul 21st 2021, 4:19 PM

    An ‘Honesty Box’…operated by the Tories? Hahahaha

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    Mute Josh Joyce
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    Jul 21st 2021, 2:11 PM

    Oven Ready

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    Mute Tom Halpin
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    Jul 21st 2021, 2:36 PM

    Oven ready turkey

    37
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    Mute Bill Spill
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    Jul 21st 2021, 1:45 PM

    I wonder where ‘On the right side’ is? Poor dear.

    27
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    Mute Gary G
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    Jul 21st 2021, 5:49 PM

    @Bill Spill: I hope he has realised that there is no point posting anymore, bar the odd you know who, nobody agrees with him, just laugh at him.

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    Mute Maria Clery-Breen
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    Jul 21st 2021, 2:12 PM

    Who the fook do they think they are ……
    Four years hundreds of thousands of wasted money and time !!M

    48
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    Mute Joe Thorpe
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    Jul 21st 2021, 7:41 PM

    It’s time to collapse the agreement & go to WTO

    10
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    Mute Mona Murphy
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    Jul 21st 2021, 9:06 PM

    @Joe Thorpe: how could anyone trust them in any agreement their goose is well and truly cooked

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    Mute Philip Mulville
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    Jul 21st 2021, 10:10 PM

    What a shower of eejits.

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    Mute Pj Browne
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    Jul 21st 2021, 7:13 PM

    The brits made a nuts of the negotiations and now they want to change it

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    Mute Nigel Barlow
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    Jul 21st 2021, 11:25 PM

    borderless ireland because of the good Friday agreement. So stick a border in the northern part of the Irish Sea – drive a wedge between mainland uk and it’s sovereign country Northern Ireland to protect the good Friday agreement. Oh hold on that can’t be right can it? Guess it is …. Whilst everyone in Europe rejoices at getting one over on the uk the good Friday agreement will unravel. But not because of the uk. If I was frost I’d tell Northern Ireland we tried our best leave matters as they are and wait for the fun and games to start.

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    Mute Gary G
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 8:27 AM

    @Nigel Barlow: how about the Britain and HMG gives back the country they stole and pillaged back to its rightful owners.

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    Mute Nigel Barlow
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    Jul 23rd 2021, 1:26 AM

    @Gary G: quite welcome to It

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    Mute Gregory Casey
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    Sep 10th 2021, 9:12 AM

    That’s Feck with a ‘eU’

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    Mute Gary Kearney
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 11:31 AM

    What amazing is they continue to go this route after the G8 and the G20 meetings. Where they were clearly told by the rest of the world. Don’t even try and do this.
    Irish hory indeed world history has so many examples of the British and “Honesty”.
    Yet the expect everybody to agree with this.
    An agreement they insisted upon and agreed to, now they have changed their mind because of their own red tape, which they insisted upon.
    I expected them to pull some dirty tricks but nothing as simple minded as this.
    The laughable part is they are saying they got great trade deals from other countries and so far every one of them is worse than the present EU deal.
    The have not move the goalposts, they are trying to change the game and the rules as they go along. The rest of the world is sharpening their knives as the realise how weak the Uk government are.

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