On November 29th the Black Information Link (Blink) posted this story on its website:
Maggy Delvaux-Mufu set herself alight in the middle of Place d’Armes (Luxemburg City) telling witnesses that she was doing it to protest against racism, moments before she carried out the desperate act which has left her in hospital fighting for her life, Association de la presse panafricaine (APPA) reported.(The Blink article was illustrated with a harrowing photograph of the incident.)
Delvaux-Mufu, a mother of three in her forties, had previously alerted several national newspapers that she would be burning herself alive on place des Martyrs. She had even communicated the exact time. She then set out accompanied by her husband to walk through the centre of town to her macabre rendezvous.
The police were alerted and officers were deployed to the Rousegärtchen. The woman, however, changed her plan when she came across a group of journalists gathered to cover an event organised by the ‘Mouvement écologique’ on Place d’Armes, opposite the Cercle municipal. She soaked herself in petrol before confronting the members of the press, announcing that she was about to sacrifice her life to protest against racism. Moments later, she struck a match, turning herself into a human torch in front of hundreds of people.
Delvaux-Mufu’s husband and passers-by jumped on the burning body, attempting to stifle the flames with coats and jackets. The scene made several people feel unwell and many witnesses who filled the square at lunchtime were traumatised by the woman’s shrieking screams of unimaginable pain. The flames were already extinguished when police, rescue services and the fire brigade arrived at the scene. One person is reported to have vomited after seeing the woman being transported into an ambulance.
The events in Place d’Armes have also started a controversy regarding the authorities’ lack of psychological support for witnesses. Delvaux-Mufu was taken to the Bon Secours hospital in Metz, where by the time we went to press she was being treated in a specialised ward for burns and was fighting for her life. Grand Duchess Maria Teresa visited the woman and her family at the hospital.
As we understand matters, Mrs Delvaux-Mufu and her husband were in severe financial difficulties, having bought a garage but finding themselves lacking the official documents necessary to operate a business. Earlier on the same day she was to make her astonishing protest, Mrs Delvaux-Mufu had been to the Luxemburg Prime minister’s office to plead her case, but had been turned away.
A week before she had written: “I’m against all forms of violence, but day after day, my family and I have to endure moral violence, discrimination, insults and much more from Mr Juncker’s administration.”
Speculation continues as to Maggy Delvaux-Mufu’s motives and state of mind at the time of her desperate action. Mrs Delvaux-Mufu later died of her injuries.
Despite this story and variations of it appearing on Blink and other websites in recent weeks, it in fact dates back to October 2004.
I will confess that I have thought hard and long about including a photographic illustration for this article, as those available are all equally distressing, but I do so now to underline the horrific nature of Mrs Delvaux-Mufu’s protest.
Whether Mrs Delvaux-Mufu died in 2004 or 2007 is immaterial, and whatever thoughts we might harbour concerning her apparently complicit husband notwithstanding, her death was a tragedy, and the manner in which she went to it shocking and disturbing to any normal human being.But to the inhabitants of the BNP-infested Nazi Stormfront website, under the impression that Mrs Delvaux-Mufu’s death was a recent event, this was an opportunity to openly display the sickness of mind that lies at the dark heart of racism.
[Stormfront UK thread title] How NOT to protest against racism
WhiteChick666: Anyone up for a BBQ? [followed by three “rolling on floor laughing” emoticons, and link to Blink article and photograph]
caer urfa: I think that sort of protest should be encouraged [followed by “big grin” emoticon]
bulldog 69: Hear hear lets hope it catches on [followed by “rolling on floor laughing” emoticon]
Palerider: She was probably thinking about some inflamitory statement that got her a little hot under the collar. She just couldn’t keep her cool! [followed by “big grin” emoticon]
Dr. Eugene: Poor groid… how sad… [”groid” is behind closed-doors BNP-speak for black persons]
Milton Keynes: It is clear that the experiment of multiculturalism has failed. These poor people can never adapt to European society, and should be returned to their natural environment. It is barbaric for our governments to encourage them to stay - A crime against nature, that must be humanely terminated as soon as possible to stop suffering and misery to all involved. The trauma to her children is also regrettable - and avoidable. Return them all to their natural habitat - now. [The only post that came close to showing sympathy.]
Fight_For_England: “One person is reported to have vomited after seeing the woman” [”Rolling on floor laughing” emoticon] I do that everytime i see one walking down the street!
virminator: Anyone got A banjo. [Followed by “big grin” emoticon]
This England: This lady was convinced that she was being unfairly treated “Cos I is black”. Well you are now,love…
hazardouswaster: I'm so glad she staged this protest. It has encouraged me to be even more racist in my day to day life.
The contemptible people posting these comments are the very people who are convinced that you should and you will vote for them, people who will very likely turn up on your doorstep at election times wearing a bright smile and an affable attitude to complement their sharp suits, and who will proceed to lie through their teeth to deny their addiction to hatred and racism.
But you have just read the sickening truth of them, in their own disgraceful and self-damning words - words which display the same fix of mind, callous, lacking the least compassion, utterly devoid of all normal human feeling, which led others of the same political species to populate Europe with concentration camps and to engage in murder on an industrial scale.
Could you bring yourself to vote for those who see cause for celebration and merriment in the death of a fellow human being?
