Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin and Education Minister Gabriel Attal are also expected in Arras. Attal called for school security to be strengthened.
Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne canceled a visit to Orléans 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. “He attacked the staff in the canteen. I tried to intervene when he turned on me and wanted to know if I was a history and geography teacher,” said teacher Martin Dousseau, who teaches philosophy. “We barricaded ourselves, then the police came,” he said.
Motive initially unclear
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 exact 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 three years ago to the day, on October 16, 2020. The perpetrator also had Chechen roots.
