An 11-year-old pupil yelled “Allahu Akbar” during a school tribute to murdered teacher Samuel Paty, while the child’s father was later arrested for threatening to burn the school down.
The initial incident took place on Friday at the Jean-Zay middle school in the department of Drôme, southeast France, during a tribute to Samuel Paty, the teacher who was beheaded last year by a Chechen refugee in the suburbs of Paris for showing cartoons of the prophet Mohammed to his class.
After the outburst, the student was given a warning. Teachers informed the father about the incident, be responded by telling the school that he fully supported his son’s actions and went on to threaten the staff, France Bleu reports.
On Monday, the situation escalated when the father turned up in person to the school, stating again that he supported his son’s actions and threatened to burn down the school.
Police were alerted and took the 43-year-old, who works as a security guard, into custody on Tuesday. During a search of the man’s property, the prosecutor revealed that there were discovered several weapons, including a sword, and radical Islamic Salafist literature.
Earlier this month the French Ministry of National Education proposed that schools across the country should pay tribute to Mr Paty and use the event as a way to teach children about sensitive issues, including those of freedom of speech and expression.
In the southern city of Marseille, two teachers received letters containing death threats at their homes that made reference to the murder of Samuel Paty, according to the local prosecutor’s office who opened an investigation into the matter on Monday.
According to broadcaster BFMTV, the teachers, who are a couple, received several letters in September and later on the anniversary of the death of Mr Paty on October 16th.
Renaud Muselier, president of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region, commented on the case on social media, saying: “On behalf of the entire Southern Region, I send clear support to these two teachers, who are threatened with death by the barbarians.”