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Tens of thousands of people gathered in the streets of France over the weekend to show solidarity with the murdered history teacher Samuel Paty. Now follows a political reaction. After the man’s beheading, French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin ordered the closure of a mosque in a Paris suburb.
The mosque shared a video on Facebook denouncing the slain teacher’s teaching, the minister told TF1 on Monday. On the same day, according to the ministry, there were 34 police operations against individuals and associations said to be close to the Islamist spectrum.
Islamists “are not necessarily connected” to the teacher’s murder, Darmanin said. Rather, the missions were intended to “convey a message: not a minute’s delay for the enemies of the republic.” The minister accused the imam of the closed mosque in the Parisian suburb of Pantin of threatening the teacher and of having published the school’s address.
Paty, 47, was beheaded by an 18-year-old on Friday near her school in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, near Paris. He and his students had discussed the issue of freedom of expression in the classroom, using cartoons of Muhammad. Then, the father of a schoolgirl mobilized massively against him online. Immediately after the crime, President Emmanuel Macron spoke of an act of Islamist terrorism.
Everything points to an attack
French investigators also assume an Islamist-motivated attack. The attacker with Russian-Chechen roots was shot dead by police after the crime.
A group called BarakaCity, against which the French authorities also want to act, accused the Interior Minister of the online service Twitter of going “crazy” and taking advantage of a tragedy. The group describes itself as a humanitarian organization.
