Brussels shopkeeper, 54, dies after being beaten on tram 55 while defending woman from racist abuse

A Brussels shopkeeper has died after he was beaten while protecting a passenger from a racist attack on a city tram. The incident has shocked the Schaarbeek neighbourhood where Driss Atounane, 54, was known as a hard-working businessman and a fixture of the local community.

The attack on tram 55

The events unfolded on Thursday 23 July on tram line 55 at the Linde/Tilleul stop. According to statements gathered by authorities, a man began shouting racist and Islamophobic insults at a 67-year-old woman who wears a headscarf. The victim's daughter, Soukaina Fatihi, 31, told BRUZZ that her mother normally drives and rarely takes the tram, but that day was an exception.

My mother wears a headscarf. Out of nowhere a man started insulting her. He called her a 'dirty Moroccan' and hit her.

Driss Atounane, who was travelling between his home in Evere and his business on Liedtsplein, confronted the aggressor. Witnesses told French-language media that the man then turned on him.

In the blink of an eye the man attacked him. He had a bag with something heavy in it, probably metal, possibly a hammer, and struck him on the back of the head with it.

Atounane collapsed immediately. Bystanders said the attacker kept hitting him and repeatedly kicked his head until several young people intervened and pushed the man away. The tram driver alerted the control centre, and police arrived at the scene.

Death in hospital

Atounane was taken to hospital after the assault, but his condition deteriorated rapidly. He died on Sunday morning, 26 July. The Brussels public prosecutor's office is investigating the causal link between the violence and his death.

The suspect was arrested at the tram stop and has been placed under an arrest warrant by an investigating judge. Press magistrate Aurélie-Anne De Vos confirmed that a court-appointed psychiatrist will examine the man's mental state. According to people close to the victim, the suspect may suffer from a psychiatric condition and is known to police and the courts, though those details remain unconfirmed.

'He looked at peace'

Sami Atounane, the victim's 17-year-old son, met journalists at the family business on Liedtsplein. He described a father who worked across Brussels, from the Brabantstraat to the Bergensesteenweg in Anderlecht, doing everything he could to support his family. Outside of work, Driss Atounane supported charities and did volunteer work in the mountains of Morocco, helping people living in extreme poverty.

My father stood for justice. He didn't want that woman to suffer.

Sami saw his father on his deathbed. He said that even after he had passed, his father was still smiling and looked at peace, as if he had gone like a hero. Relatives have travelled from Spain and other countries to Brussels to support the family, which also includes Atounane's wife and an 11-year-old daughter. Sami said he barely sleeps since his father's death.

Shock in Schaarbeek

Atounane owned several shops on Liedtsplein and was a familiar face in Schaarbeek. A fellow trader described him as a married family man, a businessman who was straightforward and a hard worker. The president of the Brabantstraat traders' association called the death another tragedy that exposes insecurity in the capital. Local politicians and business owners have reacted with widespread dismay. Sami said that when he now rides the tram, he notices people are more aware of what happened.

Soukaina Fatihi, whose mother was the passenger being harassed, met Sami at the tram stop where the attack took place. Until last week the two families were strangers. Now their lives are bound together by what happened on tram 55. Fatihi keeps returning to one word to describe Driss Atounane: hero.