French Teacher Tribute Ceremony Held Outside Paris for First Time: Macron Presides Over Emotional Event in Arras

This is the first time that this ceremony has taken place outside Paris. Emmanuel Macron usually presides over this tribute to Les Invalides, where a bronze statue was erected symbolizing the words of the victims which continues even after their death.

The head of government and former Minister of National Education wanted to relocate this ceremony in tribute to French teacher Dominique Bernard, stabbed to death on October 13, 2023 in front of his establishment, the Gambetta college-high school in Arras, by an elderly former student aged 20 and on file for Islamist radicalization.

This tragedy occurred three years after the assassination of another teacher, history and geography professor Samuel Paty, beheaded near his college in Yvelines on October 16, 2020 after showing his students caricatures of Mohammed during course on freedom of expression.

On his arrival, Gabriel Attal will visit the establishment, which will remain open on Monday, to speak with students and then teachers, and to renew the support of the Nation five months after the tragedy.

– Education affected –

He will present the insignia of the Legion of Honor to the five people from the establishment who intervened at the time. They were knighted in the January 1 Legion of Honor promotion, along with six police officers.

The Prime Minister will then chair the official ceremony at the Arras citadel, where some 600 people have been invited. Students and teachers from the two affected establishments will read texts and a memorial gesture is planned after the speech by Gabriel Attal, who will then have lunch with elected officials and representatives of victims’ associations.

People lay flowers on October 16, 2023 in front of the Gambetta-Carnot school complex in Arras in tribute to professor Dominique Bernard murdered three days earlier

© / afp.com/Denis Charlet

At the Interministerial Delegation for Victim Assistance (DIAV), we explain that the organization of the ceremony outside Paris is a fairly old request from the associations which are also very attached to it being held in a place where education has been affected.

Several associations, however, deplored not having been involved in the choice of location.

This day of tribute has a European dimension since it is held on the anniversary of the attacks of March 11, 2004 in Madrid (192 dead), 20 years ago this year.

Last year, President Emmanuel Macron praised the dignity and the demand for truth and humanity which marked the trials of the attacks of the past decade in France, in particular those of Nice and of November 13, 2015.

– Floods –

After the ceremony, Gabriel Attal will remain in Pas-de-Calais to visit flood victims, as he has already done twice since his arrival in Matignon.

Rescuers on a boat on the Gardon to search for missing people, March 10, 2024 in Russan, in the Gard

© / afp.com/CLEMENT MAhoudenEAU

He will visit an affected home in Saint-Etienne-Au-Mont before attending a presentation in La Caloterie of the emergency work carried out and discussing the resilience plan in Montreuil-Sur-Mer with local stakeholders. .

Violent bad weather also affected the south-east of France on Sunday, where the lifeless bodies of three victims were found in the Gard, while hundreds of rescuers are still looking for four other people, including two children from the same family. .

These people were swept away while trying to drive across bridges over swollen rivers.

The Nation stands in solidarity, reacted on the social network X Gabriel Attal, warmly thanking the rescue forces (…) on the bridge and mobilized.

2024-03-11 04:02:53
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