Yasmina Kattou with AFP, edited by Antoine Terrel 1:56 p.m., October 16, 2021
Several hundred people gathered on Saturday in Eragny-sur-Oise, in Val-d'Oise, where Samuel Paty lived and was murdered, to pay homage to him.
In the crowd, a year after the tragedy, the emotion was still high.
REPORTING
A year after the tragedy, the inhabitants wanted to respond.
On Saturday, hundreds of people saluted the memory of Samuel Paty during a ceremony in Eragny-sur-Oise, the town of Val-d'Oise where the professor lived and was murdered.
The tribute ceremony opened with a speech by the mayor in front of more than 300 residents.
"Education is the most powerful weapon in the world", hammered Thibault Humbert (Free!), Calling for "to roll back a deadly ideology" which led to this "absurd cabal".
For the occasion, a huge multicolored fresco, created by the artist Alexandre Sarrat, was unveiled to applause.
Painted on the wall of the city gymnasium, in the center, a Marianne who does not have her fist raised, but a hand in front of her mouth, a symbol of censored freedom.
And a quote from Victor Hugo: "Freedom begins where ignorance ends".
Strong emotion in the crowd
In the crowd, a year after the tragedy, the emotion is still alive. Marie, resident of Eragny, came with a rose in her hand. "It was important for me to be present with my daughter," she says, tears in her eyes. "Even if we don't know this person. It's such an atrocious act that I had to be there." Aude, his 15-year-old daughter, was at his side "to pay tribute to him and so that he knows that he is not forgotten". "It could have been my history teacher, I could have known him personally," adds the young girl.
And to defend freedom of expression and secularism, children have followed one another on a platform to read poems on these themes.
The tribute ended with La Marseillaise, sung by elected officials and residents of the city.