La Rochelle Mourns Homeless Moroccan Man Stabbed to Death, Community Organizes Memorial March

The lifeless body of Saïd Ghame, a 48-year-old homeless Moroccan, was discovered on August 6 on the site of the Gabut industrial wasteland, right next to the Saint-Nicolas tower, on the Old Port of La Rochelle, reports France Bleu. The autopsy revealed that the quadragenarian was killed by ten stab wounds. The marginal friends of the deceased have decided to organize a white march this Friday at 8 pm in La Rochelle to pay tribute to a man "who protected everyone". The starting point of this march is the Place du Commandant de la Motte-Rouge. This initiative is welcomed by Jamila, the victim’s sister, who will also participate in the march.

She was informed of her brother’s death while on vacation in Morocco with her family. Immediately, she returned to France, all alone. "He’s my big brother, but for me he’s my little brother. We are seven brothers and sisters, and only the two of us live in France. Saïd, he was the joy of the family!" she says. She will be surprised to discover that her brother had been homeless for 13 years. "At no time did we have any sign that my brother was homeless. In the photos he sent us, he is always clean, always well dressed. And then he was receiving a pension for a disability, so I think it was his choice to live like that."

This family man began living on the streets after a difficult divorce. He befriended the marginalized people of La Rochelle in order to rebuild himself. They have also paid tribute to him. "No one said anything bad about Saïd. Here, he protected everyone. When someone was hungry, he gave them a baguette. Someone who didn’t have housing, he housed them in a squat he managed near the city center. That gives me so much pride! What saddens me despite everything is that he protected everyone, but he didn’t protect himself," confides Jamila, who met them.

In La Rochelle, she filed a complaint at the police station. According to the city prosecutor’s office, the judicial police and the departmental security are at work to identify the murderer of the marginal. Meanwhile, Jamila wants to recover her brother’s body, to bury him in Meknes.