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Mass demonstration after brutal murder of teacher
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Hundreds of people gathered in central Paris on Sunday
Source: AP / Michel Euler
In Paris, many people demonstrated on the Place de la République. They showed their solidarity with the teacher, who had apparently been assassinated because of an argument about the Muhammad cartoons. There were rallies throughout France.
TThousands of people gathered for a solidarity rally in Paris on Sunday afternoon after the brutal murder of a teacher. At 3pm, people applauded for a few minutes on the Place de la République, east of the city center. Many held signs in the air that read “Je suis Prof” or “Je suis enseignant” (English: I am a teacher). The place was packed.
The editors of the satirical magazine “Charlie Hebdo” had joined the call for a demonstration by the SOS Racisme organization and the teachers’ unions. People took to the streets all over the country. The Place de la République in eastern Paris is a symbolic place: after the horror series in January 2015, which included the attack on “Charlie Hebdo”, people from all over France remembered the victims there. Since then, the square has become a central place of sympathy after the terrorist attacks.
Protesters showed solidarity with the murdered teacher
What: REUTERS
The professor was beheaded by an 18-year-old on Friday afternoon for alleged terrorist motives. The attacker was shot. Also in other cities like Marseille or Bordeaux, people wanted to go out on the streets.
The brutal murder of the teacher had caused horror throughout France. According to the prosecution, the alleged motive of the perpetrator was that the teacher had shown cartoons of the prophet Muhammad a few weeks ago as part of his class on freedom of expression.
The perpetrator had bragged about the crime
The reason was the discussion about the reissue of cartoons of Muhammad in the satirical magazine “Charlie Hebdo”. According to the prosecutor’s office, the perpetrator, who was born in Moscow in 2002 and had Russian-Chechen roots, bragged about it online after the crime.
The perpetrator published a photo of the victim after his act and sent a message to President Macron, whom he described as the “leader of the infidels.” “I executed one of your hellhounds who dared to look down on Mohammed,” he wrote, according to the prosecutor.
Several people close to the alleged perpetrator were in police custody on Sunday. The father of a schoolgirl who had mobilized against the teacher on the Internet after he showed the Mohammed cartoons was also taken into police custody. He distributed a video and publicly criticized the teacher, as prosecutor Jean-François Ricard said.
The father asked the principal to fire the teacher. He was accompanied by a man who, according to the media, is a known Islamist. The prosecutor has not yet established a connection between this father and the abuser.
The police have now arrested an eleventh suspect. Prime Minister Jean Castex told the Journal du Dimanche that the government was working on a strategy to better protect teachers. “I want the teachers to know that after this vicious act, the whole country is behind them.”
Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire now wants to more closely control the financial flows of some Islamist associations. “There is a problem with the financing of a number of Islamist associations, here we can and must do better,” Le Maire told France 3 Television. He cited cryptocurrencies as an example.
