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A professor who had taught on free speech and shown cartoons of Muhammad was beheaded in a Paris suburb. A total of nine people have been arrested and an 18-year-old has been shot by police.
President Emmanuel Macron outside the school where the murdered teacher worked and near where he was attacked. Photo: Abdulmonam Eassa / Pool via REUTERS
French police confirmed late Friday night reports from the French media, including Le Parisen, that the teacher had used the controversial cartoons in teaching.
Various media outlets claim, based on police sources, that the victim was beheaded. This so far has not been officially confirmed by the French police.
The alleged perpetrator was shot and killed after behaving in a threatening manner, police say.
The identity of the man has not been officially confirmed, but according to a source in the French prosecution, he is an 18-year-old Chechen.
It is reported to AFP that he shouted “Allahu Akbar”, which means “God is the greatest” in Arabic.
Sources inform AFP that four people, including a minor, have been arrested after the attack. All must be related to the alleged perpetrator. On Saturday morning, the news agency reported that another five people have been detained.
The knife attack took place northwest of Paris. The photo was taken close to what the scene should have been. Photo: Charles Platiau / Reuters / NTB
He had taught about freedom of speech
The president of France, Emmanuel Macron, arrived at the scene at 9:40 p.m. After receiving a report from the police, he met with the press.
“One of our compatriots was killed today because he taught about freedom of expression, the freedom to believe or not to believe,” Macron said.
Macron says that France should not be divided by the slaughter, because that is “what the extremists want.”
– We must all unite as citizens, he said.
Police sources inform the AP that the teacher had been threatened after having encouraged a debate on the cartoons ten days ago.
The president described the assassination as an attack on the republic. He said that all the French are now behind the country’s teachers.
The teacher worked in a secondary school in Éragny, northwest of Paris.
“Murder linked to terrorist organization”
The attack took place around five in the afternoon at a secondary school in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, a suburb northwest of the French capital.
Police say they are investigating the incident as “a murder linked to a terrorist organization.” They rushed to the scene after receiving a phone call about a suspicious man who was staying there.
Police patrols found the suspect 200 meters from the victim, who according to several French media was beheaded. This has not been officially confirmed by the police. The Reuters news agency writes that the victim was stabbed multiple times in the neck area.
The suspect allegedly threatened the police officers with a knife or similar weapon before the police shot him in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine.
A bomb squad was dispatched to the scene because the perpetrator was suspected of wearing a bulletproof vest.
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