( Breitbart )
The Japanese embassy in Paris has warned its nationals to be on alert after a Japanese citizen was attacked with acid earlier this month.
The Japanese consular service put out the notice through an email which stated that on February 10th, three people accosted a group of Japanese nationals in Paris’s 17th district. The assailants assaulted the Japanese citizens, with one of the attackers throwing a corrosive substance at one victim, who managed to cover his face, receiving only minor injury to his hands.
French newspaper Le Figaro obtained the email, reporting that the Japnese embassy also referred to the acid attack on their website, stating that a doctor had ascertained that the chemical was likely hydrochloric acid.
A Japanese consular representative told the newspaper the email was sent to keep Japanese nationals on alert for potential violence.
“The victim’s family went to the police station to file a complaint, but it could not be filed in the absence of the victim,” the official told the newspaper.
They added: “The victim and their family do not wish this case to be exposed in more detail. We will respect their decision by making no further comment. Fortunately, the victim suffers only minor injuries and does not wish to go further in the legal proceedings.”
The acid attack is not the only such incident to take place in a European country this month. In the Swiss town of Neuchâtel, an Afghan asylum seeker was arrested after a 24-year-old Swiss woman, a former beauty pageant contestant, had been attacked with acid in a parking garage.
The acid attack on the Japanese national is not the first time a foreigner has been a victim of acid in France in recent years, either. In 2017, four American women studying abroad were attacked with acid at a train station in Marseille.
Paris’s reputation as a major international travel destination — particularly for tourists seeking the romance and history of the city — took repeated hammer blows in the pre-coronavirus era. Breitbart London reported in 2017 when the South Koran embassy warned tourists not to explore Paris’s historic suburbs after criminals targeted a coachload of Korean holidaymakers.
The countrymen were “slapped” and harassed before the bus was looted in the notorious Seine-Saint-Denis suburb. The attackers then attempted to set the bus on fire as they left.
Later that year it emerged that lucrative Chinese tourists were abandoning the city, reacting to rising violent assaults and thefts. The President of the Chinese Association of Travel Agencies in France, Jean-François Zhou, said of the changing trends: “In 2016, there were 1.6 million Chinese tourists compared to 2.2 million in 2015. The number of Japanese tourists dropped 39 per cent, and Koreans 27 per cent. Our tourists have turned to Russia, which is less attractive but at least it is a safe country. For Putin, it is an economic windfall.”