Didier Lemaire, professor at Trappes: "I am revealing a big problem in France"

He's been in the news all week.

This Monday, Didier Lemaire speaks about the controversy triggered by his remarks on the Islamist movement in Trappes (Yvelines).

In an article in Le Point magazine, the philosophy teacher at the Plaine-de-Neauphle high school recounted "the progress of an ever stronger community hold" on his students.

Placed under police escort, he was then invited to numerous TV and radio shows to discuss his daily life.

Words contradicted by the mayor of the city, Ali Rabeh (Generation. S), who in turn became the target of threats.

The political class then clashed all week, taking sides either for the professor of philosophy or for the mayor of Trappes.

Are you still a teacher?

DIDIER LEMAIRE.

No, I will not go back to the Lycée de la Plaine-de-Neauphle, it's impossible.

I love to teach, but today, for my safety, I can't.

Now I need to rest and take a step back.

I do not yet know what to do, I have already received other job offers.

You've been in the media for a whole week, what do you think of the proportion of this case?

At first I was surprised, I didn't think this story would make so much noise.

I did not have the impression of having been overwhelmed by events, the right supported me well and I can only be happy with the issue around me, it is the public debate.

I am the revealer of a big problem in France and if I had to do it again, I would do it again.

I position myself as a whistleblower, I am a teacher and I am aware of a threat that is not only local.

I have been reproached for it but I do not stigmatize Trappes, other cities are concerned by Islamism.

Today, I am on vacation far from Paris and I remain very calm.

Some of your students were surprised, even shocked, by your words on the TV shows.

Do you understand them?

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My message was not directly addressed to them.

In the twenty years that I have been teaching, it has always gone well with the students.

Even after my column in L'Obs following the assassination of Samuel Paty, the atmosphere was friendly.

In my class, the tribute to the history-geography teacher went well but this is not the case everywhere in high school, colleagues told me about the difficulties they had had.

Since 2016, I have noticed more and more high school students in a situation of duplicity.

In class they behave in a certain way and in the outside world they adopt a different attitude.

They are not many but I did not know that before.

And then, from one class to another, the atmosphere can be very different, I have classes where all the girls are veiled and others not at all.

In any case, I see a strengthening of the Salafist hold on the conscience.

You, who have been teaching at Trappes for twenty years, what changes have you noticed in the city?

Things are better in Trappes.

Before, if I parked my car in front of the school, I might find it boned at the end of the day.

There were certain areas where I felt in danger.

Today, the city is clean, we feel more secure there but I observe that the ideological breeding ground, in particular the feeling of not being French, is much stronger than before.

Be careful, we must not generalize either, there are also a lot of integrated people who adhere to the values ​​of the Republic in Trappes.

You explained that in Trappes, there were no mixed hairdressers and that cafes were forbidden to women.

Words strongly denied by Mayor Ali Rabeh.

Do you still maintain them?

I admit that I may have made factual errors.

On the hairdressers, I did not check for myself, I relied on a survey of the newspaper Le Figaro.

Even if I have made inaccuracies, that does not call into question the facts: the Islamist threat is very present in Trappes.

I said the truth on the merits.