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The tributes to Professor Samuel Paty, murdered a year ago in an act of jihadism on the outskirts of Paris, focused this Saturday on the cities where he lived and the places where he practiced his profession as an educator. The French Prime Minister, Jean Castex, praised his figure, describing him as “a man who only aspired to transmit the values of freedom, secularism and tolerance.”
The French Government extended this Saturday the commemorative and institutional events to the late Professor Samuel Paty, whom it called a symbol of freedom of expression.
In Paris, Prime Minister Jean Castex and Minister of Education Jean-Michel Blanquer unveiled a commemorative plaque at the entrance to the Ministry of National Education.
“Here is a man who wanted to do his job, a demanding and sometimes ungrateful job, a man who only aspired to transmit the values of freedom, secularism, tolerance, free will (…) Therefore, pay tribute to Samuel Paty is to pay tribute to the Republic. And with it to our fundamental freedoms that are both a guarantee and a condition, “said Castex, in the company of other senior officials of the Administration of President Emmanuel Macron, as well as relatives of Paty.
The Minister of Education added that Paty, 47, did “what is expected of a teacher, to train future citizens (…) We will ensure that her memory remains alive,” he stressed.
Castex stressed that this crime reminds that France must remain committed to defending values such as freedom, equality and fraternity, national emblems.
A square in honor of the teacher Samuel Paty
However, amid commemorations of a crime that shocked the country in 2020, the Chief of Staff also urged France and Europe to fight jihadism.
“The institutions and the Government of the Republic must fight step by step in the world, in Europe, and of course within the national territory, against Islamist terrorism, against terrorism in all its forms,” said Castex.
Professor Samuel Paty, 47, was beheaded on October 16, 2020 by an 18-year-old young man, days after showing cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, during a class on freedom of expression.
The educational community was also surprised by the fact that five students, between 13 and 15 years old at the time of the events, were accused of having identified the teacher for his murderer, after pointing out that he allegedly commit Islamophobia.
It was in an Éragny-sur-Oise street, on the outskirts of Paris, that the attack took place. Just a few meters from a school in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, where Paty worked.
There, the City Council prepared a tribute, which included a monument in the form of a book, in one of the central squares of the city.
In addition, a public space located in front of the Sorbonne University will be renamed Plaza Samuel Paty. This will be made official during an event preceded by the Parisian mayor Anne Hidalgo.
For this ceremony, the students prepared written speeches on freedom of expression.
In an interview this week with the local newspaper La Croix, one of the teacher’s sisters, Gaëlle Paty, described him as a teacher “who did not seek to revolutionize the entire Earth” but “wanted to change things through ordinary action.” .
In the immediate aftermath of his assassination, teacher safety alarms were raised and up to 15 teachers were absent from the Versailles region, in the western suburbs of Paris, as confirmed by rector Charline Avenel.
The crime against Paty continues to shock France. The attack was “a disruption in several respects” and its “impact remains considerable,” according to Jean-Jacques Brot, prefect of Yvelines.
With AFP and Reuters
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