French school where teacher fatally stabbed evacuated over bomb alert
16 October 2023, 10:34
Specialist teams are on site at the school in Arras.
French authorities say a high school where a teacher was fatally stabbed last week has been evacuated over a bomb alert, as France’s President cut short travel plans abroad to host a security meeting.
The prefecture of the northern Pas-de-Calais region said the decision was made to evacuate the Gambetta-Carnot high school in Arras after police received a bomb threat via its website.
A bomb disposal team is on site, the prefecture said, adding that “all precautionary and safety measures” are being taken until the site is cleared.
France is on heightened alert against feared terror threats following the stabbing incident.
Schools across the country will hold a moment of silence after the teacher was killed and three other people were injured last week in the attack by a former student suspected of Islamic radicalisation.
In a message posted on X, formerly Twitter, French President Emmanuel Macron said that after the attack on Friday, “we took action, we are taking action and we will continue to take action to ensure that school remains a sanctuary for our students and for all those who work there”.
He added: “To blind hatred, we will always oppose the inextinguishable thirst for teaching. The thirst for knowledge. The thirst for living free.”
The homage on Monday afternoon will also pay tribute to another teacher, Samuel Paty, killed exactly three years ago near his Paris area school. Mr Paty was beheaded by a radicalised Chechen who was later killed by police.
The French government heightened the national threat alert and ordered up to 7,000 soldiers to be deployed by Monday night and until further notice to bolster security and vigilance around France.
Counter-terrorism authorities are investigating Friday’s stabbing, and the suspected assailant and several others are in custody, prosecutors said.
The suspect had been under recent surveillance by intelligence services for radicalisation.
Court documents viewed by The Associated Press show he is from the Ingushetia region in Russia’s Caucasus Mountains, which neighbours Chechnya.
The prosecutor said the alleged assailant was a former student there and repeatedly shouted “Allahu akbar,” or “God is great”, during the attack.
Prosecutors are considering charges of terrorism-related murder and attempted murder against the suspect.
The dead man was named as Dominique Bernard, a French language teacher at the Gambetta-Carnot school, which enrols students aged 11-18.
Another teacher and a security guard are in a critical condition with wounds from the stabbing, police said.
The counter-terrorism prosecutor said a cleaning worker was also injured.
