French schools honor a 鈥榪uiet hero鈥 in silence
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Schools across France held a minute鈥檚 silence yesterday in memory of teacher Samuel Paty who was beheaded by a Chechen teenager for showing cartoons mocking the Prophet Muhammad during a class on freedom of expression.
With France at its highest security level following further attacks since Paty鈥檚 killing, some 12 million pupils returned to school for the first time since the 47-year-old was slain in broad daylight on the eve of a two-week school holiday.
French President Emmanuel Macron cast the killing as an attack on French values and the Republic itself. But his insistence that France will not compromise on basic freedoms of belief and expression has provoked outcry among Muslims worldwide.
鈥淭he idea of terrorism is to create hatred,鈥 Macron wrote in a message to schoolchildren on social media. 鈥淲e will pull through this together.鈥
Pupils stood in silence at 11am and teachers reminded them of their rights and duties in a 鈥渇ree democracy.鈥
Prime Minister Jean Castex marked the tribute alongside staff at Le Bois d鈥橝ulne college where Paty taught. Police guarded the gates of the high school.
Macron has described Paty as a 鈥渜uiet hero鈥 dedicated to instilling the values of the Republic in his pupils and the embodiment of France鈥檚 鈥渄esire to break the will of the terrorists.鈥
Teachers across France read a letter written to their profession by Jean Jaures in which the 19th century politician set out their role in nurturing young citizens.
鈥淭hey will be citizens and they must know what a free democracy is, what rights confers on them, what duties the sovereignty of the nation imposes on them,鈥 Jaures wrote.
France has deployed extra soldiers to protect places of worship and schools following further attacks since Paty鈥檚 killing, including in a church in Nice and against a priest in Lyon.
Paty鈥檚 murder convulsed secular France, where the separation of church and state is fiercely defended. It also exposed the fault lines cleaving a country where some Muslims see the government鈥檚 use of secular laws as a tool to suppress their religious beliefs.
Macron has enraged Muslims around the globe by describing Islam as 鈥渁 religion in crisis all over the world鈥 and defending free speech that some deem blasphemous or inflammatory.
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