React quickly against terrorism. President Emmanuel Macron has asked that prefects comb through the file of radicalized people likely to be expelled from France. He wants to ensure that there was no “overlook” in the examination of procedures, after the attack in Arras which killed a teacher on Friday, the Elysée announced on Monday.
The head of state wants his ministers to “embody a ruthless state towards all those who carry hatred and terrorist ideologies”, an advisor told journalists. In addition to the circular to prefects on radicalized individuals, the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin was also invited to study a “specialized approach for young men from the Caucasus in the 16-25 age bracket,” he added. .
Emmanuel Macron also explained that the school will remain a “bulwark against obscurantism” and “a sanctuary for our students and for all those who work there”, in a message on to “teachers, heads of establishments, staff of National Education and local authorities” and “students of France”.
A few hours before classes resume Monday morning at 10 a.m., the Head of State salutes the memory of Dominique Bernard, “assassinated because he was a teacher” and with “heroic” behavior, which “tragically echoes the “the assassination of Samuel Paty, three years ago to the day”.
Born in Russia and originally from the federal republic of Ingushetia, the Arras attacker, registered S (for “state security”), had recently been followed by the General Directorate of Internal Security (DGSI). His father was deported in 2018 for radicalization and his older brother is incarcerated for his participation in a planned attack targeting the Elysée. In 2014, the attacker’s family was subject to deportation proceedings, which were ultimately canceled.
“Reexamine in detail”
In his circular, the Minister of the Interior orders all the country’s prefects to bring together within 48 hours the departmental radicalization evaluation groups created in 2014 to “re-examine in detail” all “individual cases”, “in particular when it concerns foreigners in an irregular situation,” explained the Elysée.
This involves “ensuring that all radicalized people who can be expelled have been expelled or speeding up the procedures”, and “rechecking that there are no oversights and that we have gone well to the maximum of the procedure”. The idea is in particular to see if it is possible to obtain a consular pass in cases where this has not been possible until now, in particular with regard to Russia where dialogue on the subject, and therefore, expulsions have de facto stopped since the war in Ukraine.
“Specific monitoring” of young people from the Caucasus
Regarding young men from the Caucasus, the Elysée starts from the observation that in the case of Samuel Paty, murdered three years ago, and Dominique Bernard, killed on Friday, both teachers, the attacker was each time of this region. “We know that there is a relationship to violence which is particular”, “forms of radicalization which are very strong”, “a very radical culture of the practice of Islam”, argued the advisor of the ‘Elysium.
The president therefore asked for “specific monitoring”, to think about “screening or support mechanisms for these young people”, and “to work on stopping radicalization” and “prevention”, according to his entourage who rejects any idea of “discrimination”.
The immigration law in December in the National Assembly
For her part, the President of the National Assembly, Yaël Braun-Pivet, hoped on Monday that the immigration law would be examined in December in the National Assembly to be “definitively voted on” by Parliament “before the end of the year “, after the Arras attack perpetrated by a radicalized foreigner.
“What I hope is that we do not procrastinate and that we can vote for it as quickly as possible,” she declared on France 2, recalling that the bill provided that “people who are not integrated, who are radicalized, who have fierce hatred for the Republic, (…) we must actually be able to keep them away.”