Schaerbeek Remembers: 20 Years Since Far-Right Attack on Moroccan Couple

White sheets deployed along their facade, a gathering on Thursday, May 5... The residents of Vanderlinden Street remember the assassination by a far-right sympathizer of the Moroccan couple Habiba El-Hajji and Isnasni Ahmed shot on May 7, 2002. "It’s mainly for the anti-racist side that I put up the flag. The whole street was shaken by what happened at that time," explains one of the residents to BX1.be. "Our son was coming back by bike when the shooting started. One of the big brothers came in here... the fire, the firefighters who couldn’t intervene until we were sure the killer was disarmed," recalls another.

Since the end of last October, the Habiba Ahmed Foundation has its registered office at the scene of the tragedy, at 121 Vanderlinden Street in Schaerbeek. It is a question of "understanding the scope of a misfortune like this one," explains Kenza Isnasni, the eldest daughter of the Moroccan couple. Her wish is that part of Vanderlinden Street be renamed Habiba-Ahmed Street. A request she had reiterated last May.