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As a teacher, Samuel Paty provoked the ire of parents at a western Paris secondary school for using Muhammad cartoons in one of his classes.
In response, an 18-year-old, believed to have been of Chechen origin and associated with the family of one of the school’s pupils, is believed to have carried out the attack in which the teacher was beheaded.
Dedicated teacher
Paty was a teacher who was “the heart of his profession,” those who knew him told the new French agency AFP.
“When I saw that a teacher had been involved in the beheading of Bois d’Aulne, I made the direct link: it’s Mr. Paty,” said 16-year-old Martial, who ran to school with friends as soon as he heard the news .
The high school student remembers his fourth grade history and geography teacher at this quiet school, located in the heart of a suburban neighborhood.
“At the beginning of the year he showed up. He said [he had been] in Créteil “in another school” and that he came because his wife had been transferred for her work, “the young man recalls.
Samuel Paty, with short brown hair, was “little”, wore glasses, “always wore a shirt,” recalls Nathan, 16, another former member of the Bois d’Aulne school.
Committed to students
The father of the family, in his forties, was known for his commitment to his students. “He was very committed to his work,” which “he loved very much,” says Martial. “He really wanted to teach us things. From time to time, we had discussions, we talked.”
Samuel Paty was beheaded on a street near the university around 5:00 pm. As soon as the school holidays began, the attacker, an 18-year-old Russian from Chechen, threw himself at him, before the police shot him a little later.
Emmanuel Macron, who came to the scene on Friday night, denounced a “characteristic Islamist attack” and called on “the whole nation” to unite behind the teachers to “protect and defend them.” A national tribute will be paid to him.
Muhammad cartoon
According to the initial investigation, the teacher had shown his eighth graders a cartoon of Mohammed last week.
A report had reached Rodrigo Arenas, co-president of FCPE, the parents’ association, about the tensions generated by this initiative among some parents.
According to someone close to the case, an outraged father had filed a lawsuit against Samuel Paty, who in turn filed a defamation lawsuit against the father.
Moral and civic education
The victim, according to another teacher, would have “invited Muslim students out of the classroom” before showing a drawing of the prophet crouching with a star drawn on his buttocks and the inscription “a star was born”.
“He did this every year,” said Virginie, 15, who knew the teacher. “I was in the EMC program (moral and civic education), it was to talk about freedom [of speech] in connection with the attack on Charlie Hebdo. He showed these images, the cartoons, “says the young woman.
At school, parents and teachers paid tribute to Paty, who was said to be well loved and a father himself.
Paty’s former student, Martial, 16, said the teacher loved his job: “He really wanted to teach us things; sometimes we had debates.”
Another student, Tiago, said he saw Paty the day she died. “He came to my class to see our teacher. It is shocking that I will not see him again.”
In a tweet, Charlie Hebdo expressed his “sense of horror and revolt” over Friday’s attack.
Police rushed to the scene after receiving a call about a suspicious individual loitering near the school, a police source said.
They discovered the dead man and soon saw the suspect, armed with a sword, who threatened the officers as they tried to arrest him. They opened fire and then he died from gunshot wounds.
