In all middle and high schools in France, students and teachers observed a minute of silence on Monday for the teacher killed by an Islamist on Friday and another teacher murdered three years ago, with Emmanuel Macron calling to be “ruthless” in the face of ” terrorist ideologies.
Three days after the death of Dominique Bernard, a French teacher stabbed by a radicalized ex-student, in front of a middle school in Arras, in the north of the country, the head of state promised that the school would remain a “ bulwark against obscurantism” and a “sanctuary” for students and teachers.
The funeral of this professor, which will be attended by President Macron and his wife, Brigitte, will take place Thursday morning at Arras Cathedral, announced the diocese and the Élysée.
The tribute paid Monday to Mr. Bernard, against a backdrop of reinforced security in France in the face of the threat of attacks, was tarnished by a bomb threat in his establishment which forced students and teachers to evacuate the premises in the middle of morning. It was lifted at midday.
In total, schools have been the target of 168 bomb threats since the start of the school year at the beginning of September, said the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin.
President Macron stressed that Mr. Bernard’s death “tragically echoed the assassination” of another professor, Samuel Paty, beheaded three years ago to the day in the Paris suburbs by an Islamist after showing caricatures of Muhammad in class.
“The Republic will never bend in the face of terrorism,” assured Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne on Monday at the Bois d’Aulne college in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, near Paris, where Mr. Paty taught.
In memory of these two teachers, a minute of silence was observed Monday in all schools at 2:00 p.m. (8:00 a.m. in Quebec). The resumption time for classes in high schools and colleges had been moved to 10:00 a.m. to allow time for discussion between students and teachers.
“It was very important to get together, it eases tensions, because when we are teachers, we are very alone,” testified Benjamin Marol, a teacher in the Paris suburbs.
“It was one of theirs who was killed, murdered,” stressed the French Minister of National Education, Gabriel Attal, on Sunday, assuring that “no protest”, “no provocation” would be tolerated during this tribute.
Perpetrated by a 20-year-old young man born in Russia and accused of Islamist radicalization, the Arras knife attack, which also left three people injured, has revived fear and astonishment in the country, particularly among teachers. .
Files, radicalized… quickly expelled?
Before the start of this tribute, Emmanuel Macron called on his ministers to “incarnate[er] a ruthless state towards all those who carry hatred and terrorist ideologies,” a presidential advisor reported to journalists on Monday.
The government wants to accelerate the expulsion of 193 radicalized foreigners in an irregular situation, the Minister of the Interior announced on Monday, after a security meeting chaired by Emmanuel Macron after the Arras attack.
Of these 193 registered in the file of radicalized people (FSPRT), 85 “are undoubtedly no longer on the territory”, specified the minister’s entourage to AFP, specifying that a “verification on a case by case basis” had been requested. case” for these people. In total, the situation of 2,852 regular foreigners registered with the FSPRT will be re-examined, said the minister’s entourage.
Originally from the Russian federal republic of Ingushetia, the Arras attacker, Mohammed Mogouchkov, was on “S” file (for state security) and had recently been followed by domestic intelligence (DGSI). His father was deported in 2018 for radicalization and his older brother is incarcerated for his participation in a planned attack targeting the Élysée.
In 2014, the attacker’s family was subject to deportation proceedings, which were ultimately canceled.
” Anxiety inducing “
After the attack on Arras and faced with the risk of importing the war between Israel and Hamas, France raised the level of “attack alert” to its maximum level on Friday and 7,000 soldiers should be deployed on its territory .
The Minister of National Education, who requested the strengthening of security around all educational establishments, also announced the deployment of 1,000 security personnel from the ministry.
“It’s the violent context that worries me, for my 6th grade students,” explained Marie Travert, a mathematics teacher at a college in Betton, near Rennes, in western France.
“We also have to carry out attack-intrusion exercises in the school this week, and talk again about what happened with Samuel Paty. It’s quite anxiety-inducing,” she adds.