Facts
Friday, around 5 p.m., a man beheaded a history and geography professor near the college where he was teaching in a quiet area of Conflans-Sainte-Honorine (Yvelines).
A few moments later, he was shot dead by police officers, called for help, 200 meters away, in the neighboring town of Eragny.
Conflans-Sainte-Honorine: the police shoot a man armed with a knife
The victim
The teacher, Samuel Paty, a forty-year-old father of a family, taught history and geography at the Collège du Bois d'Aulne, a reputedly quiet school establishment, located in the heart of a residential area which is equally so in this town of 35,000 inhabitants of north-west Paris.
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"Monsieur Paty", a history teacher described as "discreet and benevolent"
Professor "committed" and "thoroughly in his profession", according to several testimonies, he had recently shown caricatures of Muhammad to his fourth year students as part of a course on freedom of expression.
Some parents were upset, especially on social networks.
A parent of a student even lodged a complaint last week, and the teacher in return lodged a defamation complaint, two complaints that the Home Office confirmed this morning.
Professor killed in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine: “We no longer know what to do. Do we no longer send our children to school? "
The suspect
He is an 18-year-old Chechen Russian born in Moscow.
Known for a background of common law, his criminal record was however blank and he was not known to the intelligence services for radicalization, according to several relatives of the file.
The context
What did the teacher show his students?
According to Rodrigo Arenas, co-president of the FCPE, the first association of parents of pupils, an angry pupil's parent accused him of having "invited the Muslim pupils out of the classroom" before showing a drawing of the crouching prophet with a star drawn on her buttocks and the inscription "a star is born".
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Follow the latest developments live
This attack occurs in any case three weeks after the one in front of the former premises of Charlie Hebdo in Paris, in the midst of the January 2015 attacks, which had decimated the editorial staff of the satirical weekly.
The representation of the prophets is strictly prohibited by Sunni Islam.
Ridiculing or insulting the Prophet Muhammad is punishable by death in some Muslim countries.
Investigation.
On the suspect's mobile, few doubts remain.
Police officers from the anti-terrorism sub-directorate (Sdat) of the judicial police and the General Directorate of Internal Security (DGSI) got their hands on a message that may have been posted by the assailant on a now closed Twitter account, showing a photo of the victim's head.
Its author addresses Emmanuel Macron, described as "leader of the infidels", and says he wants to avenge the one "who dared to belittle Muhammad".
The assailant had shouted "Allah Akbar" had to be killed.
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Following what the Head of State called a "characterized Islamist attack", his parents, his grandfather and his little brother were arrested in Évreux (Eure) during the night from Friday to Saturday.
According to a judicial source, five other people were also arrested, including the father of a college student who had had a dispute with the teacher and a couple of relatives.
Shock wave
The beheading of this teacher caused a shock wave in France.
" They will not pass.
Obscurantism will not win ”, hammered on Friday evening Emmanuel Macron in front of the college of Bois d'Aulne.
Emmanuel Macron in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine: "A characterized Islamist attack"
"Our teachers will continue to awaken the critical spirit of the citizens of the Republic, to emancipate them from all totalitarianisms and all obscurantisms", hammered on Saturday Jean Castex on Twitter.
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The shock wave among teachers
“Samuel Paty embodied the Republic in what it has most noble: his school.
He was cowardly murdered by the enemies of freedom.
We will be united, firm and resolute, ”said Jean-Michel Blanquer this Saturday during a video speech.
Charlie Hebdo also expressed on Twitter “his feeling of horror and revolt”, believing that “intolerance has just crossed a new threshold”.
Saturday morning in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, a few roses had been placed at the entrance of the colleague of this suburban district described by students and their parents as calm and without history.
A tribute ?
As we revealed this morning, the Presidency of the Republic has agreed with the family of the victim to pay him a national tribute.
The date remains to be specified.
