France: a year after the assassination of Samuel Paty, a trauma still present
Audio 04:25
A portrait of the murdered professor Samuel Paty, during a memorial march in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, October 20, 2020. AP - Lewis Joly
Text by: Laurence Théault
1 min
France is preparing to commemorate the assassination of Samuel Paty, the teacher beheaded on leaving his school by an Islamist, on October 16, 2020. Ceremonies are scheduled from today, Friday October 15, in schools everywhere in France. A minute of silence will be observed in all schools. The establishments will have the freedom to organize themselves to pay this tribute. This could take the form of exchanges, discussions, screening of documentaries on secularism. An opportunity to talk about the place of the teacher, of knowledge, explained the Minister of National Education. He also made it clear that any disturbances will be penalized. Laurence Théault went to meet students from a vocational high school in Poissy and thenis interviewed with a history teacher.
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The teacher Samuel Paty, 47, was stabbed and then beheaded on October 16, 2020 in a street near his college in Bois-d'Aulne in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, a quiet town in the Paris region, while he was going home.
His killer, an 18-year-old radicalized Chechen refugee who was killed shortly after by the police, accused him of showing caricatures of Muhammad in class, and gave money to young college students to show him who was Mr. Paty.
A total of fifteen people have been charged in this case.
This attack had upset a country already weakened since the beginning of the decade by a wave of jihadist attacks, and revived passionate debates around freedom of expression, religion, secularism, the right to blaspheme.
The teachers do not feel sufficiently supported by the institution ...
France to commemorate the assassination of Samuel Paty
Laurence Théault
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