In the face of horror, show the unity of the Nation.
Several associations and unions launched on Saturday a call for a rally on Sunday at 3 p.m. Place de la République, in Paris, to pay tribute to the professor of Conflans-Sainte-Honorine beheaded Friday after showing caricatures of Muhammad to his students.
As of Saturday, several hundred people gathered in Nice or Rennes to denounce an "act of barbarism" and defend "the values of democracy".
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Follow the latest information on the Conflans attack in our direct
The Parisian appeal was initiated by SOS Racisme, FSU, Sgen-CFDT, Unsa-Education, SNALC, FCPE, FIDL (high school union), FAGE, UEJF and "Dessinez Create Liberty".
The call was also relayed by the editorial staff of Charlie Hebdo.
Samuel Paty was assassinated on Friday for showing Muhammad cartoons in one of his classes.
Faced with this horror, with @DessinezCL, @SOS_Racisme and teachers' unions, we are calling for a rally on Sunday 18/10 at 3 p.m., Place de la République in Paris.
pic.twitter.com/UP7AmsC1jR
- Charlie Hebdo (@Charlie_Hebdo_) October 17, 2020
"We are still awaiting authorization from the prefecture," Frédéric Marchand, secretary general of Unsa Education, told the press after a meeting at the Ministry of Education with the teachers' unions, in the presence of Prime Minister Jean Castex.
From a police source, it is recalled that calls to gatherings are not intended to be authorized.
This gathering being static and not being intended to pass in front of sensitive places, it should not be banned by tomorrow by the authorities, according to the elements collected by Le Parisien.
Even if the three-day deadline for filing a declaration cannot be respected.
"We should not play with the emotion of the victim's colleagues and their desire to pay tribute to him," we are told.
National tribute in the coming days
“I understand this initiative, I support it.
If it were to take place, I would obviously go to this event in accordance with the sanitary conditions that are ours today, ”for his part, Minister of Education Jean-Michel Blanquer told the press.
“We must show our support for the Republic,” he added.
“Beyond this gathering, we call on our local representations to organize initiatives in the coming days,” wrote the associations at the origin of this call.
In order to "say that we think of Samuel Paty (the murdered professor) as well as of his bereaved relatives", "to say that teachers must be supported in the exercise of their profession", to say "that we are attached to freedom expression and that we reject extremist and obscurantist logics ”, they underlined in particular.
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The Elysee Palace said on Saturday that a “national tribute” would be paid to the teacher.
An announcement welcomed this Saturday by Jean-Luc Mélenchon.
The leader of rebellious France for his part called for gatherings on Sunday "in all the places of the Republic of the country at 3:00 pm".
