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Won’t forget ‘silence’ of some states, says France after teacher’s beheading

WION Web Team
NEW DELHIUpdated: Oct 27, 2020, 08:05 AM IST
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A French police officer stands next to a portrait of French teacher Samuel Paty on display on the facade of the Opera Comedie in Montpellier on October 21, 2020, during a national homage to the teacher who was beheaded for showing cartoons of the Prophet Mohamed in his civics class Photograph:(AFP)

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France has also ordered the temporary closure of a mosque outside Paris, part of a crackdown on Muslims who incite hatred after the decapitation of a teacher who showed his class caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad.

French Minister for Foreign Affairs Jean-Yves Le Drian criticised Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for not having expressed any condemnation or solidarity following the beheading of French history teacher Samuel Paty, who murdered for showing cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed in class.

Also read: Samuel Paty's killer had 'contact' with jihadist in Syria

“It is said that it is in hardship that one recognises one’s friends. I have drawn up this cartography and I say to those who can hear us beyond this room that nothing that we can see will be forgotten,” he added.

Also read: Erdogan calls for boycott of French goods over Macron's stance against radical Islam

“Of course, we have received many, many expressions of support from all over the world,” the foreign minister continued, noting that “we are very touched [by those]”. “But there are also eloquent silences. And these silences, too, will not be forgotten,” said Le Drian.

Meanwhile, French police have been raiding Islamic associations and foreigners suspected of extremist religious beliefs in the aftermath of the beheading of a school teacher by a suspected Islamist.

France has also ordered the temporary closure of a mosque outside Paris, part of a crackdown on Muslims who incite hatred after the decapitation of a teacher who showed his class caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad.

History teacher Samuel Paty, 47, was murdered on Friday in broad daylight outside his school in a middle-class Paris suburb by an 18-year-old of Chechen origin. Police shot the attacker dead.

(With input from agencies)