The teacher beheaded in a Paris suburb after reportedly showing cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in class has been named. Samuel Paty, 47, who taught history and geography at the College du Bois d’Aulne in Conflans-Saint-Honorine, was attacked on Friday evening by an 18-year-old man who was shot dead by police minutes later. Mr Paty is said to have shown pupils controversial caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad from the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo during a citizenship class earlier this month.
Before showing the images he reportedly advised Muslim students to leave the classroom if they thought they might be offended. It prompted a number of parents to demand his resignation, reports suggest.
The 18-year-old killer, of Chechen origin, repeatedly stabbed Mr Paty after he left the school before beheading him with a large meat cleaver. A police source said that witnesses had heard the attacker shout ‘Allahu Akbar’, or ‘God is Great’.
Investigators were seeking to establish whether he acted alone or had accomplices. Four relatives of the attacker, including a minor, were detained in the immediate aftermath of the murder in the middle-class suburb, according to police sources.
Five more were held overnight, among them two parents of pupils at the school where Mr Paty was employed. Parents of pupils laid flowers at the college gate. Some said their children were distraught.❐
