On October 16, 2020, Samuel Paty was beheaded by a terrorist named Abdoullakh Anzorov, a high school student who criticized him for showing caricatures of Mohammed in class. As we prepared to celebrate this sad anniversary, the scene seemed to repeat itself in Arras.
A knife attack of inconceivable violence in front of a high school, the words “Allah Akhbar” pronounced by the assailant, and above all a murdered teacher. The drama which took place this Friday, October 13, 2023, in the streets of Arras, in Pas-de-Calais, killing a teacher, has a very particular resonance just a few days before a sad anniversary: that of the The assassination of Samuel Paty, beheaded in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine on October 16, 2020.
Having become a symbol of the fight against obscurantism and the risks it entails, the history and geography teacher was attacked three years ago to the day or almost by a high school student aged 18 at the time, Abdoullakh Anzorov, who acted following a controversy over the teacher’s exhibition of caricatures of Muhammad to his students.
This time, it is a French teacher in question and he could be a collateral victim. According to the first elements communicated in the press about the knife attack in Arras, he tried to intervene while the attacker, a radicalized young man of Chechen origin, was targeting several other people and seemed to be looking for a teacher. of history according to a witness present on site. There were two other victims injured in this attack, including a technical agent and a PE teacher. One of them is in absolute emergency. They were transferred to Arras hospital.
Destabilizing common points
Other points in common connect this drama with the assassination of Samuel Paty three years ago. The author of the stabbings is a former student, like Abdoullakh Anzorov who beheaded Samuel Paty. Like him, the alleged perpetrator of the attack in Arras was armed with a knife. Like him, he was born in Russia, of Chechen origin.
This time, however, the author of the attack would be listed as S for radicalization and monitored for several months by the DGSI, unlike Abdoullakh Anzorov who was not listed, although known to the police for common law crimes. . Another notable difference: if Abdoullakh Anzorov had been killed following the attack, taking with him his last secrets, this is not the case of the Arras attacker, who may be able to provide details on his psychology and his action. And one day be at the center of a trial, for history and for the families of the victims.