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Teacher Dead After Stabbing at French School Teacher Dead After Terrorist Stabbing at French School, Officials Say
(about 4 hours later)
A man armed with a knife killed a teacher and injured several other people at a school in northern France on Friday, according to officials, who were treating the episode as a terrorist attack. A man armed with a knife killed a teacher and seriously injured two other people at a school in northern France on Friday, an assault that deeply disturbed the country and that officials described as an Islamist terror attack.
The stabbing took place at Gambetta High School in Arras, a town of about 42,000 that is roughly 25 miles southwest of Lille, near the Belgian border. President Emmanuel Macron arrived at the scene on Friday afternoon. The stabbing took place at the Gambetta-Carnot public school in Arras, a town of about 42,000 roughly 25 miles southwest of Lille, near the Belgian border. Officials have provided few details about the assailant and his motive was not immediately clear. A suspect was quickly arrested at the site, which includes a middle and a high school.
Gérald Darmanin, the French interior minister, said that a suspect had been arrested. France’s national antiterrorism prosecutor’s office said in a statement that it had opened an investigation, but it declined to provide details about the suspect or his motivations. Attacks on schools are rare in France, but this one struck a particularly raw nerve. The country is still haunted by the murder of Samuel Paty, a 47-year-old history teacher who showed caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad in class to illustrate free speech and was beheaded by an Islamist fanatic.
While attacks on schools are rare in France, this stabbing struck a raw nerve in the country. It occurred almost three years to the day after Samuel Paty, a 47-year-old history teacher who showed caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad in class to illustrate free speech, was beheaded by an Islamist fanatic. “Almost three years to the day after Samuel Paty’s murder, terrorism has struck again in a school,” President Emmanuel Macron, looking somber, told reporters in Arras after rushing to the scene.
Police quickly set up a security perimeter around the school. The victim was killed in a “brutal and cowardly way,” Mr. Macron said. He did not identify the victim, but officials and school colleagues identified him as Dominique Bernard.
“It’s terrible to think that, three years later, teachers are still being murdered in their workplace,” Sophie Vénétitay, the head of one of the largest teacher unions in France, told France Inter radio. He praised that teacher and the two people who were injured — another teacher and a school employee — for trying to stop the assailant.
More recently, a Spanish-language teacher at a high school in southwestern France was stabbed and killed by a 16-year-old student, although terrorism was ruled out in that case. “We stand together and stand tall,” Mr. Macron said.
In a telephone interview, Julie Duhamel, a local representative for the SE-Unsa teacher union, said that the attacker was a former student at the school who graduated two or three years ago. During his time at the school, employees had expressed concern to their superiors that he had become radicalized, she said, although she did not know what had prompted their concern. The police quickly set up a security perimeter around the school, and the city announced that it was suspending all public events until further notice. The attack came on the same day as massive protests over the conflict between Israel and Hamas, but there were no immediate signs of a link between the two.
Martin Doussau, a philosophy teacher at the school in Arras, told the BFMTV news channel that he tried to intervene when he saw the assailant attack a cafeteria employee and then was chased by the assailant who repeatedly asked him if he was a history teacher. The attack quickly raised questions about security in schools — a teacher was killed by a student at a high school in February, although terrorism was ruled out in that case — and about the persistence of the terrorist threat in France.
Xavier Bertrand, the president of the Hauts-de-France region that includes Arras, said that the suspect had been flagged in France’s S Files, a database of people believed to be threats, but who are not necessarily being monitored around the clock.
Mr. Bertrand told reporters in Arras that the assailant killed the male teacher and wounded the other professor in front of the school around 11 a.m. on Friday — in between school periods, meaning the school doors were open to let students in or out.
The assailant rushed in and went up to the headmaster’s office, which was empty, Mr. Bertrand said. He then headed back down into the schoolyard, where other school employees tried to stop him, some of them by throwing chairs.
Martin Doussau, a philosophy teacher at the school, told the BFMTV news channel that he tried to intervene when he saw the assailant attack a cafeteria employee and then was chased by the assailant, who repeatedly asked him if he was a history teacher.
“Samuel Paty’s name immediately came to mind,” Mr. Doussau said, describing the assailant as “fairly strong, fairly athletic,” in his early 20s, and armed with two knives.“Samuel Paty’s name immediately came to mind,” Mr. Doussau said, describing the assailant as “fairly strong, fairly athletic,” in his early 20s, and armed with two knives.
Mr. Doussau said he barricaded himself behind a door until the police arrived. He said the officers arrested the attacker without firing any shots.Mr. Doussau said he barricaded himself behind a door until the police arrived. He said the officers arrested the attacker without firing any shots.
France was struck by large-scale Islamist terrorist attacks in 2015 and 2016, followed by a string of smaller but still deadly shootings and stabbings in subsequent years, often carried out by lone assailants. In a telephone interview, Julie Duhamel, a local representative for the SE-UNSA teacher union, said that the attacker was a former student at the school who graduated two or three years ago.
During his time at the school, employees had expressed concern to their superiors that he had become radicalized, Ms. Duhamel said, although she did not know what had prompted their concern.
France was struck by large-scale Islamist terror attacks in 2015 and 2016, followed by a string of smaller but still deadly shootings and stabbings in subsequent years, often carried out by lone assailants.
The country remains on high alert, and the authorities have said that the police and intelligence services regularly foil plots. Mr. Darmanin told the newspaper Ouest-France last month that the authorities had thwarted 42 terrorist attacks since 2017.The country remains on high alert, and the authorities have said that the police and intelligence services regularly foil plots. Mr. Darmanin told the newspaper Ouest-France last month that the authorities had thwarted 42 terrorist attacks since 2017.
French politicians reacted swiftly to the attack in Arras. Lawmakers in the lower house of Parliament suspended their work in solidarity with the victims and then held a minute of silence. Mr. Macron said security forces had thwarted another attack on Friday in another region of France, but he provided no details and did not specify if it was connected to the stabbing in Arras.
“Once again, our teachers are attacked because they are symbols of our Republic,” Éric Ciotti, the head of the right-wing Republican Party, said on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. French politicians reacted swiftly to the attack. Marine Le Pen, the French far-right leader, said in a statement that it was a “frightening reminder of the extent to which our country is a permanent target of Islamist terrorism, a murderous fanaticism whose sole aim is to subjugate and enslave us.”
Lawmakers in the lower house of Parliament suspended their work in solidarity with the victims and then held a minute of silence.
Olivier Faure, the head of the Socialist Party, expressed “shock at the murder of another teacher, just a few days before the anniversary of Samuel Paty’s death.”Olivier Faure, the head of the Socialist Party, expressed “shock at the murder of another teacher, just a few days before the anniversary of Samuel Paty’s death.”
“We’re not done with terrorism yet,” Mr. Faure said on X.“We’re not done with terrorism yet,” Mr. Faure said on X.
Catherine Porter contributed reporting.Catherine Porter contributed reporting.