France on Monday honoured the teacher beheaded near his school by a suspected Islamist radical as millions of students returned to class after a spate of attacks that have put the country on edge.
Schoolchildren across France observed a minute of silence at 11 a.m. to remember Samuel Paty, who was killed in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, outside Paris, on October 16 just as the holiday began.
Paty had shown his class a cartoon of the prophet Mohammed for a lesson on freedom of expression, spurring an online campaign targeting him. His killing further heightened tensions as President Emmanuel Macron spearheads a campaign against Islamist radicalism.
Schoolchildren — wearing masks — stood behind their desks or in schoolyards for the minute of silence. The gesture was matched by similar minutes of silence called as a show of solidarity by the authorities in Germany and Greece.
Schools in France are reopening with the country at maximum terror alert, and parents have been told not to linger at school gates after dropping off their children.
