A 20-year-old Chechen man kills a teacher in Arras, northern France. Fears of an “imported conflict” are growing in France.
It is an attack that shocked France. According to witnesses, “Allahu akbar” was shouted by a young man who killed a high school teacher with a knife and seriously injured two other people in Arras, northern France, on Friday. According to authorities, the perpetrator of the crime, who was arrested shortly afterwards along with his younger brother, was Chechen Mohammed M., aged 20. According to initial information, the perpetrator appeared at around eleven o’clock at the Lycée Gambetta de Arras, where he studied. As can be seen in a video circulating on the Internet, he then attacked two teachers and a cook from the school restaurant who tried to calm him down.
Antisemitic actions
The bloody act awakens bad memories in France: three years ago, on October 16, 2020, a young terrorist, also from Chechnya, beheaded history teacher Samuel Paty in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, near Paris – allegedly because the teacher There were controversies in class, they showed caricatures of Muhammad.
It was not immediately clear whether the attack in Arras was related to current tensions over the war in Gaza. But fears are growing in France that the conflict could be “imported”. This could have unpredictable consequences for a country with around six million Muslims and the largest Jewish community in Europe. According to the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, more than 100 anti-Semitic actions and threats have been reported to him since October 7th. President Emmanuel Macron traveled to Arras on Friday.