French leader decries 'Islamist terror attack' against the teacher who was simply beheaded
17 October, 2020
A French teacher who had recently demonstrated students cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed was beheaded outside his school on Friday (Oct 16), in what President Emmanuel Macron named an "Islamist terrorist attack".
Macron visited the institution where in fact the teacher worked in the town of Conflans-Saint-Honorine and met with staff after the slaying.
Visibly moved, the president said that "the complete nation" stood prepared to defend teachers and that "obscurantism won't win".
“Among our compatriots was murdered today because he taught ... the freedom to trust or not believe,” Macron said.
He said the attack shouldn't divide France because that's what the extremists want. “We should stand all together as citizens,” he said.
Four people, including a minor, have been arrested, a judicial source told AFP early Saturday.
Those held were linked to the assailant, who was simply shot by police because they tried to arrest him and later died of his injuries.
The attacker shouted "Allahu Akbar" ("God is Greater") as police confronted him, a cry often heard in jihadist attacks, a police source said.
France has seen a wave of Islamist violence since the 2015 terror attacks on the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and a Jewish supermarket in the administrative centre.
French anti-terror prosecutors said these were treating the assault as "a murder associated with a terrorist organization."
The attack happened on the outskirts of Paris at around 5 pm (11 pm, Singapore time) nearby the middle school where in fact the teacher worked in Conflans Saint-Honorine, a northwestern suburb around 30km from the centre of the French capital.
"SUPER NICE, SUPER FRIENDLY"
The victim was a brief history teacher who recently showed cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed within a class discussion on freedom of expression, police said.
A parent of a pupil at the school said the teacher may have stirred "controversy" by asking Muslim pupils to leave the area before showing the cartoons.
"According to my son, he was super nice, super friendly, super kind," the parent, Nordine Chaouadi, told AFPTV.
The teacher "simply thought to the Muslim children: 'Leave, I don't want to buy to hurt your feelings.' That's what my son explained," he said.
According to a judicial source, an identity card on the assailant indicated he was born in Moscow in 2002, although investigators were looking forward to formal identification.
Police said these were investigating a tweet posted from a merchant account that recently showed a headshot of the teacher, and which includes since been turn off.
It was unclear whether the message, which contained a threat against Macron - described as "the first choice of the infidels" - have been posted by the attacker, they said.
"NOTHING EVER HAPPENS HERE"
Residents in the usually calm neighborhood said these were shocked while pupils from the institution, some accompanied by their parents, gathered in the pub checking their phones for updates.
"Nothing ever happens here," said Mohand Amara, who lives nearby, as he walked his dog not far from the school.
"It creates me sad - decapitated, that's shocking," said 15-year-old Virginie, who used to be the murdered teacher's student and said she had "good memories" of him.
Police had attained the scene after getting a call about suspicious individual loitering near to the school, a police source said.
They learned about the dead man and soon spotted the suspect, armed with a blade, who threatened them as they tried to arrest him.
They opened fire and injured him severely. The man later died of his injuries, a judicial source said.
Source: www.channelnewsasia.com
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