47-year-old Samuel Paty, father and teacher known for his commitment to his students, was beheaded Friday, October 16 after showing caricatures of Muhammad to his fourth-grade students as part of a course on freedom expression.

Some parents were upset, especially on social networks.

A parent of a student [whose daughter was absent from this teacher's class] lodged a complaint last week, and the teacher in return lodged a defamation complaint.

"Apparently he was a teacher who used to talk to them about Islam, cartoons and all that, it wasn't the first time that my son came home and said 'the teacher spoke to us of that today '", testified to AFP a parent of a student.

"When I saw 'teacher - Bois d'Aulne - decapitation', I made the direct link: 'it's Monsieur Paty'", assures for his part Martial, a 16-year-old high school student, rushed to the Friday evening in front of the Collège du Bois d'Aulne with friends as soon as he heard the news, coming out of football training.

This high school student remembers his 4th year history and geography teacher very well in this reputedly quiet school, located in the heart of a suburban neighborhood which is equally so in this city of 35,000 inhabitants in the north-west of Paris.

"At the beginning of the year, he introduced himself. He said that he came from [a college] in Créteil […] and that he [had] come because his wife [had] been transferred for his work, "recalls the young man.

Collapsed.

Samuel Paty was my old classmate from @ univ_lyon2.

He was a brilliant student, a great teacher, a man of dialogue.

I will quote your name and your example comrade for all those who will still want to do this beautiful job #ConflansSainteHonorine pic.twitter.com/sUW0hmo0Gy

- Christophe Capuano (@Ch_Capuano) October 17, 2020

"He really wanted to teach us things"

Samuel Paty, brown hair cut short, was "short", wore glasses, "always had a shirt," recalls Nathan, 16, another former Bois d'Aulne.

This teacher was known for his investment in his students.

"He was fully in his job", which he "liked a lot", says Martial.

"He really wanted to teach us things. From time to time, we had debates, we spoke".

Samuel Paty was beheaded in a street near the college, around 5 p.m.

The school holidays of All Saints barely sounded, the assailant, of Chechen Russian origin, aged 18, threw himself on him, before being, a little later, killed by the police.

According to the first elements of the investigation, the teacher had shown his students of 4th, last week, a caricature of Mohammed.

A report had reached Rodrigo Arenas, co-president of the FCPE, the first association of parents of students, because of the tensions caused by his initiative with certain parents of students.

Samuel Paty embodied the Republic in its most noble: his school.


He was cowardly murdered by the enemies of freedom.


We will be united, firm and resolute: pic.twitter.com/gKtDoX4LpV

- Jean-Michel Blanquer (@jmblanquer) October 17, 2020

A complaint filed by a student's parent

According to a source familiar with the matter, a parent of an indignant student had filed a complaint against Samuel Paty, who in return had filed a defamation complaint against him.

The teacher allegedly, according to Rodrigo Arenas, "invited Muslim students [who wished] out of the classroom" before showing a drawing of the crouching prophet with a star drawn on his buttocks and the inscription "a star is born".

"It was all the years that he did this," said Virginie, 15, who knew the teacher.

"It was on the program for the EMC [moral and civic education, editor's note], it was to talk about freedom from the Charlie Hebdo attack, he showed these images, the caricatures," says the young girl , specifying that this year, "it [had] taken on more importance". 

Very saddened to learn of the assassination of a colleague in history-geography-EMC.

Also shocked by discovering the drawings of his students made in April 2019 around an exhibition he had created on the values ​​of Freedom, equality and fraternity.

#SamuelPaty pic.twitter.com/ru0qBmf0qB

- Arnaud LEONARD (@Leonard_Bangkok) October 17, 2020

But what the teacher certainly did not foresee this time around was the message launched on social networks by the student's father.

In a video, he describes the teacher as a "thug" who "must no longer remain in the National Education" and invites other parents of students to mobilize.

Since this "story", Samuel Paty "was not on his plate," Myriam, a 13-year-old schoolgirl, had observed, mimicking his scowl when he wandered the hallways.

“I heard students talking 'ah he's racist',” she said.

Other qualifiers circulated on his account as "Islamophobic", she slips half-word.

"He did not do this to create controversy or to disrespect children or to discriminate," said Nordine Chaouadi.

Her 13-year-old son was entering his second year of classes with Samuel Paty.

"He said to me, 'he was super nice that gentleman,'" said the father.

With AFP

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