The Minister of the Interior rewarded nine police officers who intervened during the Arras attack

These agents received the “medal of courage and dedication” on Monday in the courtyard of the prefecture and six of them were elevated to the rank of knight of the Legion of Honor.

The Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, distinguished, Monday February 19, the nine police officers who intervened “risking their lives” during the attack in Arras (Pas-de-Calais). He presented them with the medal of honor for acts of courage and dedication, during a ceremony organized in the courtyard of the city’s prefecture, elevating six of them to the rank of knight of the Legion of Honor. Brigadier-chief, peacekeepers or deputy police: these agents had intervened to control a radicalized young person who had just killed professor Dominique Bernard, on October 13, 2023, at the Gambetta high school.

“You neutralized the terrorist, you prevented the assassination from turning into a killing, you protected and rescued teachers, agents, children at the risk of your life.”

Gérald Darmanin, Minister of the Interior

The minister addressed these police officers, dressed in white uniforms and accompanied by their families. He returned to what happened on the morning of the attack. At 11 o’clock, “the 17th receives a frightened call mentioning a terrorist who entered the Gambetta high school” And “which evokes victims, knives, a murderer still in the courtyard”. At 11:04 a.m., “two emergency police crews and a group of local police arrive. The terrorist rushes towards the police officers, screaming his hatred, brandishing the blades”, related Gérald Darmanin. Controlled after two electric pulse gun shots, handcuffed, “it was 11:09 a.m. when he was taken into custody”.

Police officers still marked by the attack

“A teacher is dead, there are wounded, blood, terrorized young people, screams, tears, a city in mourning, a nation affected”continued Gérald Darmanin, denouncing the “Islamist barbarism”. For Brigadier-Chief David Buzyn, one of the police officers was knighted in the Legion of Honor, “it’s not easy to receive all the credit after what happened on the day of the tragedy, but we accept it, we are proud of it”. Five months after the attack, he said he and his colleagues were marked by “the scenery they discovered when they entered the school, the blood, the injured”.

Mohammed Mogouchkov, 20, was indicted and imprisoned by an anti-terrorism investigating judge, four days after the attack which he claimed responsibility for in the name of the Islamic State organization.