Gabriel Attal will chair the annual day of tribute to the victims of terrorism on Monday in Arras, in the town where a teacher was killed five months ago by a radicalized former student. The Prime Minister wanted to relocate this ceremony which usually takes place in Paris to the Invalides.
Prime Minister Gabriel Attal will chair the annual day of tribute to the victims of terrorism in Arras on Monday, in the city where a teacher was killed five months ago by a radicalized former student, Matignon announced on Wednesday.
A tribute to Dominique Bernard
Gabriel Attal will take the place of President Emmanuel Macron who usually presides over this tribute in Paris at the 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 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.
A ceremony with a European dimension
Some 600 people have been invited to the Arras ceremony, which will take place at the town’s citadel. This day of tribute also has a European dimension since it is held on the anniversary of the attacks of March 11, 2004 in Madrid (191 dead).
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, notably those of Nice and 13 November 2015. A terrorism memorial museum is also due to open its doors in the first half of 2027 in Suresnes, near Paris.