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Master beheaded in a Paris suburb – Nine people in custody
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“Authorities assume a terrorist attack”
A man was beheaded in front of a school north of Paris. The authorities assume a terrorist motive. WELT correspondent Peter Heusch explains what is known so far about the perpetrators and the victims.
A man has been beheaded near Paris. The victim is a teacher who discussed cartoons of Muhammad with his students. President Macron speaks of a “clearly Islamist terrorist attack.”
northAfter the murderous attack on a teacher near Paris, five other people were arrested. The antiterrorist prosecutor’s office confirmed this to the German press agency on Saturday. This means that nine people are currently in police custody, including one minor. The alleged perpetrator, an 18-year-old Chechen man, was killed by the police shortly after the crime. The detainees are reportedly believed to be members of the alleged perpetrator’s family and others.
According to French President Emmanuel Macron, the bloody attack on the history professor in the Parisian suburb of Conflans-Sainte-Honorine was a “clearly Islamist terrorist attack.” Macron said that Friday night near the crime scene. “One of our fellow citizens was killed today because he was teaching, because he taught the students freedom of expression, the freedom to believe and not to believe,” Macron said visibly ill.
The man was reportedly attacked and beheaded in the street on Friday afternoon. The antiterrorist prosecutor took over the investigation. The victim is said to have shown cartoons of Muhammad in class. The alleged perpetrator, who according to witnesses shouted “Allahu akbar” (“God is great”) after the crime, was arrested by the police in nearby Éragny shortly thereafter. According to the media, he tried to attack the police and the officers shot him dead.
The class was on freedom of expression.
The alleged perpetrator is reportedly a Moscow-born 18-year-old Chechen. It is said that he was armed with a kitchen knife. There was no official confirmation for this. Furthermore, he is said to have boasted of the man’s death after the crime.
In France there is speculation about the motive for the crime. It is said that the teacher showed Muhammad cartoons in class on the subject of freedom of expression. There was also disgust at school; the professor was threatened, Franceinfo reported. The father of a 13-year-old boy told France Inter that the teacher asked Muslim students if they wanted to leave the room before showing the photos. The professor was not “condescending or disrespectful.” Broadcaster BFM reported in a video that a schoolboy’s father is said to have posted on YouTube earlier this month. The video should also have been about the Mohammed cartoons.
French President Emmanuel Macron visited the crime scene at night
What: REUTERS
“I call on all our compatriots to remain united, to be united (…),” President Macron said at the scene. “He won’t get away with it,” he said, referring to the violence and terrorists.
“Islamism is waging war against us: we have to expel it from our country,” right-wing politician Marine Le Pen replied on Twitter. The Minister of Education, Jean-Michel Blanquer, wrote in the network of an attack on the republic: “Our unity and determination are the only answer to the enormity of Islamist terrorism.” Attacking a teacher means attacking all French citizens and freedom, wrote the president of the National Assembly, Richard Ferrand, on Twitter.
Police officers secure the area near the crime scene
What: REUTERS
Just a few weeks ago there was a knife attack in front of the former editorial building of the satirical magazine “Charlie Hebdo” in Paris. Two people were injured; here too, investigators assume a terrorist background. In January 2015 there was a fatal attack on the editorial team of “Charlie Hebdo”. At the beginning of the trial, the magazine had republished cartoons of Muhammad and was seriously threatened. The author of the knife attack stated that he could not bear it.
Again and again Islamist attacks in France
At the same time, the trial of the alleged helpers of the terror series in January 2015, in which a total of 17 people died, has been taking place in Paris since the beginning of September. You can only enter the Palace of Justice in high security conditions. A verdict is expected in November. The editorial staff of “Charlie Hebdo” expressed their condolences to the relatives of the murdered teacher.
A man was beheaded in an Islamist-motivated attack in 2015. A 35-year-old man was overwhelmed while attempting to set off explosions at an industrial gas plant in Saint-Quentin-Fallavier, near Lyon. He had previously beheaded his employer and stuck his head out with two Islamist flags at the factory fence.
France has been rocked by Islamist attacks for years: more than 250 people died. Therefore, people are almost always aware of the threat of terrorism. The French government has made the fight against terrorism a top priority and continues to warn that the risk of terrorist attacks is very high.
