(Arras) France is on maximum alert on Saturday evening, the day after the assassination of Dominique Bernard, a French teacher stabbed to death by a former student registered S in front of a middle school in Arras, the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin displaying his “firmness” in the face of radicalized foreigners.
This Islamist attack, which also left three people injured, caused a shock wave, particularly in the teaching world, in a context marked by fears of the conflict in the Middle East being imported into France.
“An atmosphere of jihadism, of taking action, has been evident since last Saturday,” the date of the attack on Israel by Hamas, affirmed Gérald Darmanin, recording since then 189 anti-Semitic acts in the territory, which gave rise to 65 arrests, including 23 foreigners.
He called at a press conference for the “systematic expulsion of all foreigners […] considered dangerous by the intelligence services”, insisting on this “line of firmness”.
France went into “emergency attack” alert on Friday evening, the highest level of the Vigipirate system, after the attack in Arras, described by President Macron as “Islamist terrorism”. Up to 7,000 soldiers will be deployed to the territory by Monday.
Fear of a new attack led to the evacuation of the Louvre museum on Saturday, then the Palace of Versailles, but ultimately there was “no real threat”, according to Gérald Darmanin.
PHOTO SARAH MEYSSONNIER, REUTERS
A security perimeter has been erected around the Louvre Museum.
” Fault ”
Dominique Bernard was stabbed to death late Friday morning by a young man on file S, who was arrested in front of the Gambetta college-high school, in the city center of Arras (Pas-de-Calais), almost three years old day to the day after the assassination of another teacher, Samuel Paty, beheaded on October 16, 2020 for showing caricatures of Mohammed in class.
Since his arrest, the attacker, of Russian nationality and who shouted “Allah Akbar” according to several witnesses, “has not explained himself,” a police source told AFP.
PHOTO LUDOVIC MARIN, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Forensic investigators at work at Gambetta high school on October 13 in Arras.
Ten other people, including several members of his family, were in police custody on Saturday afternoon, a police source said.
According to Gérald Darmanin, there is a “link” between the situation in the Middle East and “the act” of this man, Mohammed Mogouchkov, on file S, aged around twenty.
This former student of the establishment had recently been followed by the General Directorate of Internal Security (DGSI), due, according to the minister, to links with his father, on S file and expelled in 2018, and his brother, imprisoned for his participation in a planned attack targeting the Élysée.
He was arrested on Thursday by the DGSI “to check if he did not have a weapon” and to check his phone, Mr. Darmanin said, excluding a “flaw in the intelligence services”.
Arriving in France in 2008 according to a police source, he was born according to the French administration in the predominantly Muslim Russian republic of Ingushetia. He could not legally be deported, having entered France before the age of 13, Gérald Darmanin stressed on Saturday.
Minute of silence
The victim, Dominique Bernard, a professor at the college, was killed around 11 a.m. Friday in front of the establishment where another teacher, a technical agent and a maintenance agent were injured.
PHOTO DENIS CHARLET, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
People gather in front of the Gambetta high school, where a teacher was killed on October 14 in Arras.
Originally from Arras, this 57-year-old associate professor of modern literature was the father of three daughters and married to a teacher.
No ceremony will be organized in Berneville (Pas-de-Calais), where he lived, but a book of condolences will be installed at the town hall, the mayor announced to AFP.
A tribute will also be paid to him on the central square of Arras on Sunday at 11 a.m. at the call of the city and the teaching unions.
A minute of silence will be observed in schools in France on Monday at 2 p.m. in tribute to the victims of attacks against schools, announced the Minister of Education, Gabriel Attal.
The day in middle and high schools will not begin until 10 a.m. Monday, to allow teachers and staff to meet at 8 a.m. and “prepare for the resumption of classes,” he added.
“I want to say it to all teachers: we will be there to ensure your safety,” Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne assured Saturday. “We will not give in to violence,” she added.
CRS patrolled Saturday in front of the Gambetta school complex in Arras, where a psychological unit had been set up.
“It’s better to leave the school open, so that everyone can come, talk, to mourn,” said Camille, 17, who witnessed the attack.
The attack puts the government under pressure, with the right urging a “state of emergency” while the far right points to “flaws.”
Since the attack of Charlie Hebdo in January 2015 (12 victims) a wave of jihadist attacks left more than 260 dead in France. According to Gérald Darmanin, 43 planned Islamist attacks in France have been foiled since 2017.