Unanimous condemnation. After the knife attack on a man this Friday, October 13 in the morning, which killed a teacher and left two seriously injured in a high school in Arras (Pas-de-Calais), there were numerous reactions from the political class . “Three years after the despicable terrorist assassination of Samuel Paty, another murderous attack against teachers. Fear and disgust,” reacted Jean-Luc Mélenchon (LFI). “Frightened after the new murder of a teacher,” wrote Olivier Faure (PS), for whom “we are not done with terrorism.”
For the President of the National Assembly Yaël Braun-Pivet (Renaissance), “the horror has just struck”. A teacher was “cowardly murdered”, denounced his Senate counterpart Gérard Larcher (LR). “The fight against Islamism and its accomplices must be priority No. 1,” judged Bruno Retailleau (LR). “Everything must be done to eradicate Islamism, its soldiers and its relays,” insisted Jordan Bardella (RN). “In Arras, jihad has just struck,” denounced Eric Zemmour (Reconquest).
Fabien Roussel (PCF) called for “the union of the entire nation against terrorism”. “The Republic stands alongside its teachers,” assured ecologist Cyrielle Chatelain. “She must be ruthless with her enemies,” added Stéphane Séjourné (Renaissance). “Support for teachers and students,” added the mayor of Lille Martine Aubry (PS).
“Make a block”
At the Palais Bourbon, the session, which focused on the examination of the bill on the regulation of the digital sector, was adjourned until 3 p.m. When he resumed, the deputies observed a minute of silence. “The events which took place this morning in a high school in Arras seized us all with fear,” said vice-president Naïma Moutchou at the perch, expressing “the emotion of the national representation in the face of the horror of these actions” and his “thoughts and our solidarity with the victims and their families”.
“Three years after the cowardly assassination of Samuel Paty, once again, a professor was killed in the name of Islamist terrorism. Taking the life of a teacher has a clear goal: to attack our principles and our values,” he said. underlined the head of the Renaissance group Sylvain Maillard. “Terrorism has attacked the school where everything begins, where knowledge is transmitted, where critical thinking is built, where citizens grow […] The struggle will not divide us, it will bring us together,” promised his socialist counterpart Boris Vallaud.
“I say our unfailing determination to stand up to terrorism,” declared Sophia Chikirou on behalf of the LFI group. “To the government and state services: you can count on us, the Insoumis, on all our elected officials, to face it together,” she assured.
Moved to tears, Horizons MP Agnès Carel, a teacher, called on her colleagues to “stand together”. “It is our duty not to fracture. We, representatives of the Nation, must find the right words to ease the suffering,” she insisted.
On behalf of the government, the minister responsible for digital affairs, Jean-Noël Barrot, praised “the exceptional bravery of those who seem to have intervened” in the face of the attacker, “thus undoubtedly contributing to saving lives”. “To attack a professor is to attack the Republic and its foundations, freedom, equality, fraternity,” continued the minister.
MEPs also suspended for a time on Thursday the ongoing examination of the budget for 2024 in the Finance Committee, after observing a minute of silence.