Friday afternoon, a teacher from a college in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, in Yvelines, was attacked with a knife and beheaded by an 18-year-old young man, shot dead by the police a few streets away.

The victim, a history teacher, reportedly showed his students caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad earlier in the week.

THE ESSENTIAL

A teacher was beheaded on Friday in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, in Yvelines, and his alleged attacker was killed by police, in the neighboring town of Eragny, in Val-d'Oise, three weeks after the chopper attack perpetrated by a young Pakistani near the former

Charlie Hebdo

premises

in Paris.

According to a police source, the victim, a history and geography professor at a college in Conflans Sainte-Honorine, had recently shown his students caricatures of Mohammed in progress.

The main information to remember

  • A professor was beheaded on Friday in the Yvelines

  • His attacker was shot dead by the police, he allegedly shouted "Allah Akbar"

  • Emmanuel Macron goes on site

What happened ?

A man armed with a knife was shot dead around 5 p.m. by the police in Eragny in the Val d'Oise.

He is suspected of having beheaded a man whose body was found a few streets away, in front of a college in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, in Yvelines, by municipal police.

They were held up to shouts of "Allah Akbar" by the killer at the time of his escape.

It was then the Bac policemen who shot him dead a few streets away.

A security perimeter was installed and the demining service called, due to a suspicion of an explosive vest.

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What do we know about the victim?

According to the latest information, the victim is a history and geography professor at a college in Conflans Sainte-Honorine.

Monday, October 5, in class, he showed his students the cartoons of Mohammed published by Charlie Hebdo.

He had previously suggested to students who wished to leave the classroom.

His course had nevertheless aroused a stir and reactions from parents of students.

According to the first elements of the investigation, it is in retaliation that this teacher was attacked and beheaded.

Has the act been claimed?

The author is said to be a young man of 18, born in Moscow.

The act would have been claimed on the internet earlier today, but the message is still being authenticated.

His terrorist motivation does not seem to be in doubt: the national anti-terrorism prosecution has also taken up the case, entrusted to the anti-terrorism sub-directorate (SDAT) and to the General Directorate of Internal Security (DGSI) .

This attack comes three weeks to the day after the chopper attack perpetrated by a 25-year-old Pakistani in front of the former Charlie Hebdo premises, which left two seriously injured.

The trial of the January 2015 attacks, still ongoing, is due to continue until November 10.

What reactions from the authorities?

The political class has largely reacted to this attack, via social networks.

The leader of La France insoumise, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, for example denounced an “Ignoble crime”, and the president of the Île-de-France region, Valérie Pécresse a “barbaric assassination”.

The president of the National Rally, Marine Le Pen, and MP LR Eric Ciotti both spoke of a war against Islamism.

Ignoble crime at #Conflans!

In fact the assassin takes himself for the god he claims to be.

He dirties his religion.

And he's inflicting hell on all of us having to live with murderers of his kind.

- Jean-Luc Mélenchon (@JLMelenchon) October 16, 2020

In the National Assembly, in an atmosphere full of emotion, the deputies rose to "salute the memory" of the beheaded teacher and denounce a "abominable attack".

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin, traveling to Morocco, immediately returned to Paris and opened a crisis unit "in connection with the President of the Republic and the Prime Minister", he tweeted.

Back in Paris, I keep myself informed directly of the crisis unit that I have opened, in conjunction with the President of the Republic and the Prime Minister.

#Conflans

- Gérald DARMANIN (@GDarmanin) October 16, 2020

The Elysee Palace announced Friday that Emmanuel Macron would go to Conflans-Sainte-Honorine on Friday evening, after going through the crisis unit set up at the Ministry of the Interior, where he was joined by the Prime Minister, Jean Castex.