By BZ/afp
An attacker armed with a knife killed a teacher at a school in Arras, northern France. According to police, another teacher and a supervisor were seriously injured in the attack on Friday.
No students were injured. The perpetrator shouted “Allah is great”.
He is said to be 20 years old and from Chechnya, police sources said. He was registered in the national list of dangerous criminals. According to information from the local newspaper “La Voix du Nord”, it is a former student of the school.
According to police, both the perpetrator and his 17-year-old brother were arrested. The anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office is investigating murder and attempted murder in connection with terrorism.
Rescue workers at the school Photo: REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol
French President Emmanuel Macron wants to go to Arras in the afternoon, the Elysée announced. Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin and Education Minister Gabriel Attal are also expected in Arras. Attal called for school security to be strengthened.
Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne canceled a visit to Orleans and returned to Paris. The French National Assembly suspended its session because of the knife attack.
In the afternoon, the students and teaching staff were still in the school building, which had been closed by the police.
Relatives wait for news outside the school Photo: REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol
“He attacked the staff in the canteen. I wanted to intervene, but he turned against me and wanted to know whether I was a history and geography teacher,” said teacher Martin Dousseau, who teaches philosophy. “We barricaded ourselves, then the police came,” he said.
In videos shared online, a young man with a gun in his hand can be seen fighting with several other adults in the schoolyard. The police called on people not to distribute images of the crime out of respect for the relatives.
The background to the crime was initially unclear. In France they awaken memories of the murder of the teacher Samuel Paty, who was the victim of a jihadist-motivated attack almost exactly three years ago, on October 16, 2020. The perpetrator also had Chechen roots.