French premier joins nationwide tributes to beheaded teacher

Paris, October 18

France’s prime minister joined demonstrators on Sunday who rallied collectively throughout the nation in tribute to a historical past trainer who was beheaded close to Paris after discussing caricatures of the Prophet together with his class.

The demonstrations got here hours after US President Donald Trump despatched France a message of solidarity within the wake of the assault.

Samuel Paty was beheaded on Friday in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine by an 18-year-old Moscow-born Chechen refugee who was shot lifeless by police.

French Prime Minister Jean Castex stood with residents, associations and unions demonstrating Sunday on the Place de la Republique in Paris in help of freedom of speech and in reminiscence of the 47-year-old slain trainer.

Some held placards studying “I am Samuel” that echoed the “I am Charlie” rallying cry after the 2015 assault on the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, which revealed caricatures of the Prophet.

A second’s silence was noticed throughout the sq., damaged by applause and a rousing rendition of La Marseillaise, the French nationwide anthem.

Demonstrators additionally gathered in main cities together with Lyon, Toulouse, Strasbourg, Nantes, Marseille, Lille and Bordeaux.

French authorities, in the meantime, say they’ve detained an 11th particular person following the killing.

Anti-terrorism prosecutor Jean-Francois Ricard mentioned an investigation for homicide with a suspected terrorist motive was opened. At least 4 of these detained are relations of the attacker, who had been granted 10-year residency in France as a refugee in March, was armed with a knife and an airsoft gun, which fires plastic pellets.

His half-sister joined the Islamic State group in Syria in 2014, Ricard mentioned. He didn’t give her title, and it wasn’t clear the place she is now.

The prosecutor mentioned a textual content claiming accountability and {a photograph} of the sufferer had been discovered on the suspect’s telephone. He additionally confirmed {that a} Twitter account below the title Abdoulakh A belonged to the suspect.

The beheading has upset reasonable French Muslims and a gaggle of imams within the Lyon area are holding a particular assembly on Sunday to debate what the group known as “the appalling assassination of our compatriot by a terrorist who in the name of an uncertain faith committed the irreparable”.                 

The head of the world’s largest physique of Muslim-majority nations has additionally condemned the killing.

In a press release on Sunday by the 57-nation Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, the workplace of the overall secretary, Yousef al-Othaimeen, reiterated the OIC’s “well-known position of rejecting all forms of extremism, radicalisation and terrorism for any reason or motive.”

The assault has provoked a robust worldwide rebuke. US President Donald Trump addressed the killing Saturday evening from a political rally in Janesville, Wisconsin.

“On behalf of the United States, I’d like to extend my really sincere condolences to a friend of mine, President (Emmanuel) Macron of France, where they just yesterday had a vicious, vicious Islamic terrorist attack — beheading an innocent teacher near Paris,” he mentioned. “France is having a hard time and Macron’s a great guy.” AP