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PARIS, KOMPAS.com – Demonstrations were held throughout France in support of Samuel Paty, the teacher who was beheaded after showing cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad during lessons.
There was a standing ovation from the crowd at the Place de la République in Paris, with people carrying the slogan “Je suis enseignant” (I am a teacher).
A man named Abdoulakh A was shot and killed by police on Friday (10/16/2020) after killing Paty near her school, near Paris.
Currently, an eleventh person has been arrested as part of the investigation of the case, they report BBC on Sunday (10/18/2020).
No details were released about the arrests. The four close relatives of the suspect were arrested shortly after the murders occurred.
Six other people were arrested on Saturday (10/17/2020), including the father of a school student and a preacher described by the French media as a radical Islamist.
President Emmanuel Macron said the attack had all the hallmarks of an “Islamic terrorist attack” and that his teacher had been killed because he “taught freedom of expression.”
Read also: Family of a beheaded teacher in France apologizes and sends their condolences
Where do the protests take place?
The Place de la République in Paris is now full of people who came together to support Paty. Prime Minister Jean Castex and the Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, joined them.
In that square, 1.5 million people protested after the deadly 2015 attack on the offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, following the publication of the cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad.
A protester carried a sign on Sunday that read “zero tolerance for all enemies of the Republic.” Others have written “I’m a teacher. I’m thinking of you, Samuel.”
Furthermore, in Le Figaro there was also a French Muslim filling the ranks among the protesters, who expressed his disgust at the murder.
A minute’s silence is followed by the French national anthem, the Marseillaise. All protesters wear masks to protect themselves from the coronavirus.
French Prime Minister Jean Castex published the stanza of the national anthem, along with the words “Don’t scare us … we are France!”
Also read: 4 facts about teachers beheaded in France for showing cartoons of the prophet Muhammad
In Lille, people carried banners and posters that read “I am Samuel”.
Thousands of people also gathered at Place Bellecour in Lyon to pay their respects, with another large number of protesters in Nantes.
Demonstrations are also held in Toulouse, Strasbourg, Marseille, Bordeaux and elsewhere.
In addition to Sunday’s rally, there will be a national tribute presented by Paty, 47, on Wednesday.
“A civilization does not kill innocent people, like barbarism,” Tareq Oubrou, imam of the Bordeaux mosque, told France Inter on Saturday.
Laurent Nuñez, head of France’s counterterrorism task force, told France Info radio that “the line has been crossed.” He condemned acts of “outrage” that constituted an attack on “freedom of education”.
Also read: Circulating photos of Abdoullakh Anzorov, an 18-year-old Chechen man beheading teachers in France
What happened on Friday?
Counterterrorism prosecutor Jean-François Ricard said the suspect, who lives in the town of Évreux, Normandy, about 100 km from the murder site, went to Paty’s school in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine on Friday afternoon and asked students to point to the teacher.
Abdoulakh A, 18, born in Moscow from Chechnya, does not have a clear relationship with teachers or schools.
He followed Paty when she came home from work. The suspect used a knife to hit the teacher’s head and then beheaded him.
When the police approached Abdoulakh, he opened fire on them with an air rifle. The officers returned fire and beat him nine times. Nearby was found a 30 cm long knife.
Authorities say the man has been brought to court with other cases, but only on misdemeanor charges.
Also read: The case of the teacher in France beheaded, the perpetrator asks to show Samuel Paty
What’s new in the investigation?
Ricard said that Paty had been threatened since she showed cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad during free speech classes in connection with the Charlie Hebdo case.
Trials for the 2015 attack on the magazine are ongoing.
As she has done in similar lessons in recent years, Paty, a history and geography teacher, advises Muslim students to walk away if they think it is offensive.
The parents of a student reacted angrily and went to the school to complain.
He and another man accompanying him, Abdelhakim Sefrioui, a preacher and activist, made a video calling Paty “voyou” and demanded her postponement.
The French intelligence services have known Sefrioui for many years. Both he and his father are now in detention.
Also read: Revealed the identity of the beheading teachers in France, which students like
