Teacher knifed to death in France after showing class cartoons of Prophet Mohammad

By Tangi Salaün and Geert De Clercq

 

People are seen outside an entrance area near the scene of a stabbing attack in the Paris suburb of Conflans St Honorine, France, October 16, 2020. REUTERS/Charles Platiau

 

PARIS (Reuters) - A middle school history teacher in France was knifed to death near the school where earlier this month he had shown his pupils cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad, considered blasphemous by Muslims, French officials said on Friday.

 

The attacker was shot dead by a police patrol a few streets away from the scene of the attack late on Friday afternoon, in a residential suburb north-west of Paris.

 

"One of our fellow citizens was assassinated today because he was teaching, he was teaching pupils about freedom of expression," French President Emmanuel Macron told reporters at the scene of the attack.

 

"Our compatriot was flagrantly attacked, was the victim of an Islamist terrorist attack," Macron said. "They won't win... We will act. Firmly, And quickly. You can count on my determination."

 

The incident carried echoes of the attack five years ago on the offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. It published caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed, unleashing divisions that are still casting a pall over French society.

 

Friday's killing, by targeting a teacher, was interpreted by many public figures as an attack on the essence of French statehood, with the values it espouses of secularism, freedom of worship, and freedom of expression.

 

"This evening, it's the Republic that's under attack," Education Minister Jean-Michel Blanquer wrote in a tweet.

 

The victim of Friday's attack sustained multiple knife wounds to the neck, according to a police representative. One law enforcement source said the teacher had been beheaded in the attack.

 

French broadcaster BFMTV reported that the suspected attacker was 18 years old and born in Moscow. Law enforcement officials did not name the attacker, or his victim.

 

A police source said that witnesses had heard the attacker shout "Allahu Akbar", or "God is Greatest".

 

The attack took place in the street in front of the middle school where the victim worked, in the suburb of Conflans Sainte-Honorine. The area is a middle class neighbourhood with many residents who commute to work in Paris.

 

CIVICS LESSON

 

According to French media reports, the teacher who was killed had earlier this month shown pupils the cartoons as part of a civics lesson.

 

A Twitter thread posted on Oct. 9 contained a video of a man who said his daughter, a Muslim, was one of the pupils in the class, and that she was shocked and upset by the teacher's actions.

 

The man in the video urged Twitter users to complain to the authorities and get the teacher removed from his post.

Reuters was unable to independently verify the authenticity of the video.

 

France has over the past years seen a series of violent attacks by Islamist militants, including the 2015 Charlie Hebdo killings, and bombings and shootings in November 2015 at the Bataclan theatre and sites around Paris that killed 130 people.

 

Less than a month ago, a man originally from Pakistan used a meat cleaver to attack and wound two people who were on a cigarette break outside the offices where Charlie Hebdo was based at the time of the 2015 attack.

 

The issue of the cartoons had been revived last month when Charlie Hebdo decided to re-publish them to coincide with the start of the trial of accomplices in the 2015 attack.

 

Al-Qaeda, the militant Islamist group that claimed responsibility for those killings, threatened to attack Charlie Hebdo again after it republished the cartoons.

 

The magazine said last month it published to assert its right to freedom of expression, and to show it would not be cowed into silence by violent attacks. That stance was backed by many prominent French politicians and public figures.

 

Reacting to Friday's attack outside the school, Charlie Hebdo wrote on its Twitter account: "Intolerance has crossed a new threshold and does not seem to give ground to anything in imposing its terror on our country."

 

(Reporting by Geert De Clercq and Dominique Vidalon; Writing by Christian Lowe; Editing by Toby Chopra and Rosalba O'Brien)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-10-17

 

- Whatever you're going through, the Samaritans are here for you

- Follow Thaivisa on LINE for breaking COVID-19 updates

 

 

13 minutes ago, rooster59 said:

Macron said. "They won't win... We will act. Firmly, And quickly. You can count on my determination."

It will be intetesting to read the concrete measures Mr. Macron will take. 

Good to see this has been reported, rather than swept under the carpet 

Hate and ignorance crimes, what else is new in the world?...

BTW other world publication reports that the teacher was beheaded by the father of the pupil who was shown the cartoons...

https://www.news.com.au/world/europe/gunman-beheads-teacher-in-paris-after-he-showed-kids-prophet-mohammed-cartoon/news-story/c9a7dae5f291d51457e961e2906c08f6

48 minutes ago, rooster59 said:

and that she was shocked and upset by the teacher's actions.

Boo  bloody  hoo,  oh  deary deary me.

as I said before--all religions must be private matter.

46 minutes ago, luckyluke said:

It will be intetesting to read the concrete measures Mr. Macron will take. 

He already took them- teaching Arabic in schools!

Multiculturalism is a disaster. Globalists are pushing this agenda all over the world.

Laughing Gravy found my post 2 hilarious,

and indeed it is. 

France will do nothing concretely. 

And this counts for every country. 

It is laughable to think the U.K. will do something concretely (as some think) about the same problem all countries are confronted with ( being the behaviour of some Muslims). 

 

A post containing a slur has been removed.   Keep it civil.

 

Knifed to death....he was beheaded with a kitchen knife in public and in full view of other teachers and students. Enrichment gathers pace

6 minutes ago, baansgr said:

Knifed to death....he was beheaded with a kitchen knife in public and in full view of other teachers and students. Enrichment gathers pace

And they should  post the photos  of it too to really RAM it  home what they are dealing with. Knifed Huh!  Maybe show them in all classrooms if you really want to see offence.

50 minutes ago, luckyluke said:

Laughing Gravy found my post 2 hilarious,

and indeed it is. 

France will do nothing concretely. 

And this counts for every country. 

It is laughable to think the U.K. will do something concretely (as some think) about the same problem all countries are confronted with ( being the behaviour of some Muslims). 

 

Try doing some research before posting. France has been one of the more active countries with confronting Islamists both domestically and overseas.

Inflammatory posts removed.  

2 hours ago, rooster59 said:

Teacher knifed to death in France after showing class cartoons of Prophet Mohammad

 

Remember….we must learn to use the correct terminology.

 

This wasn’t an outrageous, obscene, cold-blooded, deranged, psychotic murder….it was an emblematic example of vibrant cultural diversity.

 

There…that’s better.

 

 

 

35 minutes ago, simple1 said:

Try doing some research before posting. France has been one of the more active countries with confronting Islamists both domestically and overseas.

I googled : "concrete measures by France against Muslim fundamentalists"

in English, French & Dutch.

Didn't find anything concrete.

Care to point me in the right direction?

1 hour ago, olfu said:

as I said before--all religions must be private matter.

It used to be until they all became enterprises..

 

 

 

2 hours ago, olfu said:

as I said before--all religions must be private matter.

I agree.  Now if you can just get the religious zealots on board with tolerance.  That seems to be directly at odds with their belief system.

Glad he was shot dead, don't want to waste money on these people in court and prison 

France's response has been quick and effective.  Good job.

1 hour ago, simple1 said:

Try doing some research before posting. France has been one of the more active countries with confronting Islamists both domestically and overseas.

this religion is a scourge on the west ,i fear that nothing is being done ,,but then we opened the gates ,now the cancer lives amongst us.

1 hour ago, bodga said:

And they should  post the photos  of it too to really RAM it  home what they are dealing with. Knifed Huh!  Maybe show them in all classrooms if you really want to see offence.

Photos won’t have the desired effect for long, just like the gnarly pictures on cigarette packs don’t deter smokers. Once you’ve seen it often enough, you become indifferent.

4 minutes ago, pacovl46 said:

Photos won’t have the desired effect for long, just like the gnarly pictures on cigarette packs don’t deter smokers. Once you’ve seen it often enough, you become indifferent.

its  not  occurring daily

Celebrate the diversity. Diversity is a strength.

2 hours ago, simple1 said:

Try doing some research before posting. France has been one of the more active countries with confronting Islamists both domestically and overseas.

Obviously with no results then, apart from having to shoot them dead. There is no difference between Islamists and Islam, one is just carrying out the commands of the other.

57 minutes ago, bodga said:

its  not  occurring daily

worldwide it is

1 hour ago, luckyluke said:

I googled : "concrete measures by France against Muslim fundamentalists"

in English, French & Dutch.

Didn't find anything concrete.

Care to point me in the right direction?

You must have missed teaching Arabic in schools to make them happy, hang on there will be a quote from the Guardian or wikepedia arriving shortly ????

Islam is a peaceful, misunderstood religion. 

5 minutes ago, Orton Rd said:

You must have missed teaching Arabic in schools to make them happy, hang on there will be a quote from the Guardian or wikepedia arriving shortly ????

accurate prediction!

It is intolerable to read as the title "stabbed to death"
NO, a slaughter, a beheading is an act of barbarism, like the slaughter of sheep.
This professor has been slaughtered, slaughtered, beheaded.
In France, it is the collection of all the garbage on the earth.
It seems that it is a land of welcome, but certainly not chosen, since it is plagued by all those who set foot on its territory and rarely returned to the borders.
Thoughts very, very moved for his close relations, his family, the teaching staff who have more and more difficulty in being listened to, respected.