French President Emmanuel Macron described beheaded teacher Samuel Paty as a ‘symbol of freedom’ as thousands turned out in rallies across the country to pay homage to him, and show their support for free speech.
Paty, a history and geography teacher, was attacked and beheaded close to his school near Paris, after showing cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad to students during a class on 6 October. His killer, 18-year-old Abdullakh Anzorov, was shot dead by police.
Macron said at a ceremony attended by Paty’s family and about 400 guests in Paris that the teacher was a ‘symbol of freedom’, and that France ‘will not give up our cartoons’.
At rallies across France, demonstrators held banners reading reading ‘Je suis enseignant’ (I am a teacher) and ‘Je suis Samuel’ (I am Samuel)
France’s highest award, the French Legion of Honour, was this week posthumously conferred on the murdered teacher. French education minister Jean-Michel Blanquer said Paty was a model teacher who fulfilled the values of the republic and was fully deserving of France’s highest award.
Blanquer confirmed that schoolchildren would continue to be taught the importance of freedom of expression.
He said in an interview with BBC World News: ‘Freedom of speech is the pillar of democracy and the pillar of the republic and we don’t have to make a step behind in terms of freedom of speech.’