Samuel Paty, a 47-year-old father, in broad daylight on Friday, beheading him near his school in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, a suburb about 15 miles (24 km) from the center of a Paris. The gruesome killing of the history teacher by an 18-year-old suspect of Chechen origin is testing the country’s fragile relationship with its Muslim minority, with growing fears of collective punishment.
Paty’s attacker had been angered that he showed his pupils caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad while teaching a class about history because, according to the Islamic faith, caricatures of Prophets are condemned.
There has been an outpouring of grief and shock among top officials; Paty on Wednesday posthumously received the Legion d’Honneur, France’s highest honour, in a ceremony attended by President Emmanuel Macron. Thousands have attended protests.
On Monday, the French government said it was strengthening its crackdown on suspected “extremists”, carrying out multiple raids and threatening a mass expulsion of more than 200 people.
Tensions between the state and France’s Muslims, the largest Muslim minority in Europe, have deepened. In the days after the killing, the government launched a crackdown against Muslim organisations while vigilante groups have attacked mosques; places of worship in Beziers and Bordeaux have been placed under police protection after having been threatened with violence.
According to reports, Paty advised Muslim students who might be offended to leave the room or look away during this part of the discussion, as a measure of sensitivity.
The attacker posted a photo of the decapitation on Twitter before being shot and killed the police. According to French media, the teenager had been in touch with Paty before the killing.
Fifteen people have been arrested as part of an investigation into the killing, including the assailant’s family members
The attack also follows two stabbings last month outside the former offices of the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, which republished cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in September at the start of the trial for those suspected involvement in the January 2015 attacks which killed 17 people.
The rise in Islamophobic sentiments and hate for Muslims in France is a threat to the religious community. Activists are coming forward in support of the hate – crime and speech committed against Muslims, while the Government in France is focusing on wiping out radicalisation of religion and how to distinguish it from teaching.