(Arras) With emotion and under close surveillance, the town of Arras, in the north of France, paid a final tribute on Thursday to Professor Dominique Bernard, stabbed to death in front of his middle school by a former student during a jihadist attack which placed the country on alert.
The funeral of this 57-year-old French teacher was celebrated at Arras Cathedral, in the presence of French President Emmanuel Macron, his wife Brigitte and Minister of Education Gabriel Attal.
“Sensitive and discreet, he did not like the sound and fury of the world,” declared his wife Isabelle, herself a teacher, in front of a thousand people gathered in the cathedral.
Presided over by the Bishop of Arras Mgr Olivier Leborgne, the ceremony was broadcast in front of nearly 600 people on a big screen on the Place des Héros, at the foot of the city’s belfry, in the middle of an important security system.
PHOTO FRANÇOIS LO PRESTI, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
“We are distraught, but together. We are there, stunned, but refusing to let ourselves be crushed,” said the bishop.
Classes were suspended in the morning at the Gambetta-Carnot high school, the scene of the attack, allowing staff and students to attend.
Numerous bouquets of roses had been placed on the steps leading to the entrance to the cathedral, where the coffin was welcomed by around thirty teachers and agents of the drama theater establishment.
“Electroshock”
Dominique Bernard was named a knight of the Legion of Honor on Thursday, the most important French honorary order.
His death on October 13, occurring almost three years to the day after the assassination of history and geography professor Samuel Paty in the Paris region by a radicalized young man, caused a wave of shock, particularly among teachers.
In an interview Wednesday with the French Christian weekly La Vie, the mother and sister of the teacher, described by his colleagues and students as a passionate and attentive man, say they hope that he “is the last” murdered professor.
“If only it could create an electric shock to make us all say that we need tolerance, so that France remains a welcoming land,” they add.
France went on “emergency attack” alert on the evening of the attack carried out by Mohammed Mogouchkov, 20, born in the predominantly Muslim Russian Republic of Ingushetia, who claims to be a member of the jihadist organization Islamic State. .
Fears reinforced by the context of the conflict between Israel and Hamas, which also led the authorities to strengthen vigilance and security measures.
The Gambetta-Carnot middle school was evacuated Monday morning after a false bomb threat, keeping students, parents and teachers under tension.
Worry
Other alerts have led in recent days to evacuations of schools throughout France, as well as the Louvre Museum in Paris, the Palace of Versailles and even airports.
The concern was further aggravated by the murders Monday evening in Brussels in the middle of the street of two Swedes, an Islamist attack claimed by a Tunisian then shot dead by the police.
The attacker was indicted for murder in connection with a terrorist enterprise and imprisoned Tuesday evening. His 16-year-old brother is charged with complicity and a 15-year-old cousin with voluntary failure to prevent a crime.
Mohammed Mogouchkov had caused panic in the establishment on the morning of October 13, two knives in hand, killing Dominique Bernard before injuring three other adults, two of them seriously, then being arrested.
Listed for radicalization, he was followed by the General Directorate of Internal Security (DGSI) “since the end of July”, according to the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin, because of the links with his brother, imprisoned for his participation to a planned attack in Paris targeting the presidential palace of the Élysée, and his father, also listed by intelligence.
The latter, deported in 2018, is “very probably” in Georgia, according to a police source.