Paris (AFP)

Samuel Paty, killed a year ago for showing Mohammed cartoons in class, is an "emblem for freedom, for the Republic", the Minister of Education said on France 2 on Saturday.

"Samuel Paty is an emblem, an emblem of freedom, and therefore an emblem of the Republic and for that, we must show a form of strength and serenity", declared Jean-Michel Blanquer, questioned on the importance of rendering homage to the professor, one year to the day after his assassination.

"This tribute, which began yesterday, is there to show that there is a force of good values, that is to say the values ​​of France and the Republic," he added.

Millions of students in France celebrated the memory of the history-geography teacher on Friday, through a minute of silence, a song, a debate on freedom of expression.

Rare incidents have been identified, according to Mr. Blanquer, who warned Thursday that in the event of disturbances during the tributes the concerned would be "sanctioned".

Jean-Michel Blanquer at the Lycée Jean de La Fontaine in Paris, on October 15, 2021, for a ceremony in tribute to Samuel Paty Christophe ARCHAMBAULT AFP

"We identified 98 incidents (...) These are incidents of varying nature: interruptions during tributes, a student who says anything or a student who is threatening. All this remains very isolated cases and that we treat, there is a follow-up, ”he said.

The tributes continue on Saturday in the Val-d'Oise where Samuel Paty lived, in the Yvelines where he taught, and in Paris where his family will be received at the Élysée and where a plaque is to be inaugurated in the entrance of the ministry of National Education.

Mr. Blanquer unveiled the inscription on RTL on Saturday morning: "Homage to Samuel Paty, September 18, 1973 - October 16, 2020, professor of history-geography and moral and civic education. Murdered by an Islamist terrorist for teaching and defended the values ​​of the Republic including freedom of expression ".

On October 16, 2020, Samuel Paty was stabbed and then beheaded in Eragny-sur-Oise (Val-d'Oise), a few hundred meters from his college in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine.

The 18-year-old murderer, a Russian refugee of Chechen origin who accused him of showing caricatures of Muhammad in class, was killed shortly after by the police.

© 2021 AFP