A man was arrested after killing a teacher and seriously injuring two people in a high school in the north of France this Friday. An attack which comes in a context of fear of importing the conflict between Israel and Hamas into France, and almost three years to the day after the assassination of Samuel Paty.
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A man armed with a knife killed a teacher and injured two people on Friday October 13 in a high school in Arras, in the north of France, the France-presse agency (AFP) learned from the prefecture and from a source policewoman. According to police sources, he shouted “ Allah Akar “.
Among the two injured were a security guard who suffered several stab wounds, and a teacher, said a second police source. No high school student was injured, according to a first police source. High school students and staff were confined to the establishment.
Videos circulating on social networks showed a young man, wearing black pants and a gray jacket, fighting with several adults in the courtyard of the establishment, visibly with a weapon in his hand, before heading towards the door of the establishment.
The assailant arrested
The perpetrator was arrested by the police, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said on X (formerly Twitter).
A police operation took place at the Gambetta high school in Arras. The perpetrator was arrested by the police.
— Gérald DARMANIN (@GDarmanin) October 13, 2023
The high school attacker, aged 20, is of Chechen origin and on file for radicalization, according to police sources. His brother was also arrested near another school, without being in possession of a weapon, according to initial information, added another police source.
The National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office (Pnat) was contacted. The investigations, also opened for attempted assassination in connection with a terrorist enterprise and terrorist criminal association, were entrusted to the anti-terrorism sub-directorate of the national directorate of the judicial police (Sdat), coordinating service, to the national directorate of the judicial police (DNPJ) and the General Directorate of Internal Security (DGSI), specifies the Pnat.
Three years after the assassination of Samuel Paty
French President Emmanuel Macron is expected in Arras. The National Assembly suspended its work in solidarity with the victims.
Horror has just struck a high school#Arras. My thoughts are with the victim, the injured, their families. I give my full support to the entire teaching community and to the students. Thank you to the law enforcement and emergency services mobilized.
— Yaël Braun-Pivet (@YaelBRAUNPIVET) October 13, 2023
These facts took place almost three years to the day later the assassination of Samuel Paty, a 47-year-old teacher beheaded on October 16, 2020 near his college in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, in the Paris region, around ten days after showing his students caricatures of Mohammed during lessons on freedom of expression. The 18-year-old attacker, a Russian refugee of Chechen origin, was killed by the police.
(With AFP)