Assassination of Samuel Paty: a shower of tributes for the professor "who would have preferred not to become a symbol"

The minute of silence gives way to heavy applause.

The faces are serious, and Laurent Brosse, the mayor (DVD) of Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, comes to the pulpit.

“With us, the whole of France is paying homage to Samuel Paty today,” confides the elected official.

Behind every great man there is a woman, behind every great man there is also a teacher and Samuel Paty was that teacher… "

One year to the day after the assassination of the history and geography professor, tributes followed one another in France this Saturday, October 16.

In particular in Éragny-sur-Oise (Val d'Oise), where the teacher resided.

More than 300 people gathered there, at the gymnasium of the Butte.

“It is rue du Buisson-Moineau that the tragedy occurred, a few steps from his home, recalled the mayor (LR) of Éragny, Thibault Humbert, during his speech.

All those who lived through this moment still find it difficult to mourn it.

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Eragny-sur-Oise, this Saturday.

Anonymous came to pay homage to Samuel Paty at the gymnasium of the Butte.

Coming with her 13-year-old daughter, Diana has trouble hiding her tears.

“I'm 55 and I remember a teacher of mine who saw that I was not doing well and asked me questions.

He listened to me, without judging me and that was very important in my life.

Samuel Paty's death is as if this teacher had been killed for me, ”she explains.

In Conflans, it was first at the Bois-d'Aulne college that students, elected officials, teachers and educational staff met in the presence of Jean-Michel Blanquer, the Minister of National Education.

A tribute broadcast over loudspeakers on the forecourt of the establishment where nearly 300 people spontaneously came to take their seats.

At the microphone, the victim's colleagues first described the one they encountered on a daily basis, "not the one everyone knows from the media".

And some say so about this friend with the “legendary purple scarf”, a colleague “who would have preferred not to become a symbol”.

"You have been confronted far too soon with the worst in this world"

Several readings of texts written by the students and recorded in the studio were also broadcast, such as these verses telling that "only one class got out of hand because of bad people", this slam in memory of "Mr. Paty" or this song " Liberty ”, adapted from the poem by Paul Eluard and taken up by the pupils of 5th and Ulis class.

Then, it was Jean-Michel Blanquer who addressed the students telling them that they had been "confronted far too early with what is worst in this world" then asking them to "cherish their teachers. ", Emphasizing that Samuel Paty was" those who are remembered for a lifetime ".

Earlier in the day, the minister regretted at the RTL microphone “98 incidents” that occurred during tributes, in various places: “Very isolated cases that we are dealing with.

"

Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, this Saturday.

Residents spontaneously gathered to pay tribute to Samuel Paty.

Arnaud Dumontier

But on the forecourt of the college of Conflans, crisscrossed by large police forces, only applause, relayed in a few surrounding gardens, resonated between the speeches.

Sylvie, a teacher from the neighboring town of Éragny (Val-d'Oise), felt the duty to be present because "deeply touched" by herself, and "still not recovered" from this. which she continues to qualify as “unimaginable”.

"We cut the throat of freedom of expression with chalk of blood"

For Nathalie, the mother of a 5th year student, “this kind of barbaric act should not be trivialized”.

If her daughter seems to "protect herself by showing a lot of detachment", she admits to having feared this period of homage.

“I was a little afraid of this atmosphere that we have already known and there was a risk of incidents.

Fortunately, this did not happen.

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Conflans-Sainte-Honorine (Yvelines), this Saturday.

Nadia, Zahra, Floriane and Stéphanie met at the Place de la Liberté.

Everyone then converged, in a silent march, to the Place de la Liberté, where a large and dignified crowd was gathered for a new tribute.

Many people from Conflan of course, but not only, like Stéphanie, Nadia, Floriane and Zahra, four friends from all over the Île-de-France and united forever by national mourning.

“We met a year ago, right here on this square,” says Stéphanie, educator in Châtillon (Hauts-de-Seine). As soon as I heard about the attack, I felt the need to come there on a scooter. A year later, we are still in awe. I wrote a poem about Samuel Paty in which I explain that freedom of expression has been cut with blood chalk. "" My parents are Kabyles and I am a first generation Frenchwoman and what I have been taught here is that the school of the Republic deals with all subjects, that it has no taboos and that is what allowed me to build myself ”, says Zahra, English teacher in Cachan (Val-de-Marne).

The ceremony ended with the unveiling of a monumental open book on which appear several sketches by designers, French and foreign, with a common theme: freedom of expression.

A work to remind, as the mayor of Conflans-Sainte-Honorine proclaimed in his tribute, that “No, a press cartoon must not kill!

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