Belgium has been shaken by the death of Driss Atounane, a 54-year-old supermarket manager whose store was located on Place Liedts in the heart of Schaerbeek, a municipality in Brussels.
The incident occurred on Thursday, July 23, at around 3:20 p.m. aboard tram line 55 near Evere. According to initial reports, a woman was being verbally assaulted by a man shouting racist and Islamophobic insults. Driss Atounane reportedly stepped in to defend her.
The attacker then turned on the 54-year-old, striking him violently on the back of the head with a heavy object, believed to have been made of metal and concealed inside a bag.
After Atounane fell to the ground, the assailant continued kicking him repeatedly, according to several witnesses, before passersby intervened and restrained him, bringing the attack to an end.
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“The assault was of unimaginable violence,” a relative of the victim told Belgian news outlet Sudinfo.
Emergency responders treated Atounane while he was still conscious at the Tilleul tram stop before transferring him to CHU Brugmann hospital in Brussels. However, his condition quickly deteriorated. He fell into a coma and died from his injuries on Sunday morning.
The suspect was arrested by police minutes after the attack. According to Belgian media, he was known to both the police and the judicial authorities and is believed to suffer from schizophrenia. A psychiatric expert has also been appointed by the courts to assess his mental state.
For Atounane’s family and loved ones, the focus has now turned to mourning. Soukeina, the daughter of the woman he tried to protect at the cost of his own life, paid an emotional tribute to him.
“Driss saved my mother’s life. He was an angel on her path,” she told the local press.
Described by relatives, neighbors, and colleagues as an honest, hardworking man who was well respected in the neighborhood where he worked, Driss Atounane leaves behind a grieving family and a community deeply shaken by the loss of a man many now regard as a hero.
