Their gathering was spontaneous, this Saturday afternoon, the day after the assassination of their former colleague.
About twenty teachers from Jacques-Prévert college, in Lorrez-le-Bocage-Préaux (Seine-et-Marne), paid tribute to Samuel Paty, victim the day before the terrorist attack in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine (Yvelines) .
He had taught in this small college in the south of Seine-et-Marne for seven years.
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This Sunday, the flowers and the little words left behind the day before are still there.
Samuel Paty taught there "from 2011 to 2018", according to Rachid Ouriqua, professor of mathematics at Lorrez for 20 years.
According to him, making replacements, Samuel Paty had also officiated in Meaux, Torcy, Champagne-sur-Seine or Montereau.
"He was an extremely rigorous professional, an excellent history teacher," said the latter.
He had principles, like secularism, and he did not give up on them.
He was very demanding of that and of freedom of expression.
"
Lorrez-le-Bocage (Seine-et-Marne), October 18, 2020. Samuel Paty taught from 2011 to 2018 at Jacques-Prévert college.
LP / Sébastien Blondé
“He taught by debating.
In Lorrez, there was no wave ”, continues Rachid Ouriqua, who also remembers badminton games between teachers, in which Samuel Paty participated - he also played in a club in Montereau - after lessons.
Rachid Ouriqua had just learned that a conflict with parents had arisen from a course given by his former colleague on "Charlie Hebdo" cartoons.
“We heard about it on Friday noon,” he said.
We said to each other that Samuel had kept his way.
In the evening, when it happened, we immediately thought it was him.
There was no doubt.
I haven't slept on it all night.
When I see his photo, I still don't realize.
It seems surreal to me… ”
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This Sunday, in many places in Seine-et-Marne, even where he did not teach as in Provins or Bussy-Saint-Georges, we met in memory of Samuel Paty.
Nothing, this time, however, in front of the Jacques-Prévert college.
But a new rally is due to take place this Wednesday at 5 p.m.
A walk in memory of the teacher, on the initiative of the town hall, must also be organized on Saturday morning.
Lorrez-le-Bocage (Seine-et-Marne), October 18, 2020. Yaël came from Egreville with his two children to pay homage to Samuel Paty.
LP / Sébastien Blondé
But some, alone or with their families, have nevertheless come to meditate in front of the photo of the missing professor, hanging on the college gates.
Mélanie, 15, is one of them.
"When I saw that he was the victim, I cried"
She was a student of the martyr teacher two years ago, just before he was transferred to Conflans.
“I love the story and it was great with him,” she admits.
It was obvious that he loved his job.
He was super nice.
We too did the same work two years ago: we worked on the
Charlie Hebdo
cartoons
and on freedom of expression.
Here, there has never been a problem.
"
And to continue: “When I saw that he was the victim, I cried.
I was really not well.
It hurts everyone.
He didn't deserve this.
He just did his job.
There, I wanted to go past the college to bring back memories.
It's a shame: I don't have any flowers.
I would have put one… ”
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"We feel that his former students need to collect together", abounds precisely Yves Roy (SE), the mayor of the neighboring village of Thoury-Férottes, at the origin of the rally which is to be held on Wednesday.
And for good reason: Samuel Paty taught in the past to his two children, now aged 22 and 17.
“They always told me he was a good teacher, always attentive to the students and pleasant, always with a little joke at the end of the lesson.
There, we will do that for all the children of our villages who knew him, ”explains the elected official.
The secondary school pupils of sixteen communes around Lorrez-le-Bocage-Préaux are in fact divided into the Jacques-Prévert college.
"We go back to the Middle Ages"
Even if his 14-year-old son did not have Samuel Paty as a teacher, Yaël still wanted to meditate in front of the college.
"It's horrible," says this mother of Egreville, visibly affected by the tragedy.
I think you can disagree with a teacher, but you can have a dialogue.
There are other ways than to achieve barbarism.
But what climate do we live in?
We are regressing.
We go back to the Middle Ages… ”
From Lorrez to Champagne, everywhere, Samuel Paty left good memories.
“With him, we always got to the bottom of things, to understand the why and how,” recalls one of his former students in Champagne.
It upset me, because I do not understand that one does that to such a nice person, so pedagogue.
It disturbed me a lot.
"