National tribute to Samuel Paty, seven people presented to an anti-terrorism judge - France 24

Paris (AFP)

France pays national tribute to Samuel Paty at the Sorbonne on Wednesday, while seven people are presented during the day to an anti-terrorism judge for possible indictments after the savage assassination of the 47-year-old teacher.

The national anti-terrorism prosecutor Jean-François Ricard must unveil at 3:00 p.m. the latest advances in the investigation which seeks to establish whether the assailant, Abdoullakh Anzorov, benefited from complicity before perpetrating this attack which raised a wave of emotion in the country.

Among the suspects brought to justice is the parent of a student who called for mobilization after a course on freedom of expression given by Samuel Paty on October 5 and 6, during which cartoons of Muhammad were shown.

The sulphurous Islamist activist Abdelhakim Sefrioui, who had accompanied the student's parent in his mobilization, will also be presented to a judge as well as two minors, suspected of having received money from the assailant in exchange for information on the victim .

Three friends of the assailant, who spontaneously surrendered to the Evreux police station on Friday evening, must also be heard by a judge.

- Legion of Honor -

Later in the day, the Head of State will preside over a tribute paid to Mr. Paty in the presence of 400 guests, including around 100 students from establishments in Ile-de-France.

The ceremony will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the courtyard of the Sorbonne, a symbolic place of the spirit of the Enlightenment and of teaching.

According to the Elysee, President Emmanuel Macron should arrive a little earlier to hand over the Legion of Honor posthumously to the teacher, in the presence of his family.

After the arrival of the coffin, a song will be performed by the orchestra of the Republican Guard and two texts will be read by students and teachers.

The Head of State will then deliver a brief speech, followed by a minute's silence in tribute to the history-geography professor.

His memory was praised throughout the day on Tuesday: thousands of people took part in a white march in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine to say no "to barbarism".

And all the deputies observed a minute of silence, gathered on the steps of the Palais Bourbon.

In New Caledonia, two tributes were paid Wednesday to the murdered teacher, during an official ceremony in a college and then on the occasion of a citizens' rally, at the initiative of the League of Human Rights .

A minute of silence will also be observed during the professional sports competitions next weekend.

- BarakaCity in the crosshairs -

At the same time, the executive continues its all-out offensive against people and structures suspected of having connections with radical Islamism.

"It is not a question of making new declarations (...) these are acts which are expected by our fellow citizens. These acts will intensify", declared the head of state Tuesday evening, before announcing the dissolution of the pro-Palestinian collective Cheikh Yassine, founded by Mr. Sefrioui, which must be recorded in the Council of Ministers on Wednesday.

The Minister of the Interior has also officially initiated a dissolution procedure targeting the humanitarian NGO BarakaCity because of messages from its president which, according to the authorities, can be "characterized as apological for acts of terrorism".

The association, which has five days to send its observations, denounced an "arbitrary measure" and "the indigence of the reasons" invoked by the administration.

The closure of the mosque of Pantin (Seine-Saint-Denis), pinned by the authorities for having relayed one of the videos denouncing the course on Samuel Paty's cartoons, must be effective Wednesday evening despite the protests of the faithful.

Tuesday evening on BFMTV, the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin justified all of these measures by ensuring that it was the first time in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine that "political Islam has (vait) led directly to a attack ".

He also highlighted the persistence of the terrorist threat, arguing that "the question is not whether there is going to be an attack, but when".

Gérald Darmanin also filed a complaint Wednesday for "public defamation of the national police" after the publication on a blog hosted by Mediapart of a text accusing the police of "barbarism" for having "executed" the murderer of Samuel Paty.

Contacted by AFP, the news site did not wish to react immediately.

bur-jt-gd-leb / jt / cbn

© 2020 AFP