Despite the opposition of some parents of students, who fear for the safety of their children, a nursery school in the small Riviera town of
Cap d’Ail, in the Alpes-Maritimes, was officially renamed after the murdered professor Samuel Paty on Friday.
The plaque, with the sober mention “teacher of the Republic”, was unveiled in the middle of the school holidays in the presence of the teacher’s sister, Mickaëlle Paty, of the deputy LR Éric Ciotti, of the director of the school and of all the directors. who preceded it, said LR mayor Xavier Beck.
A threat according to parents
Samuel Paty, 47, was beheaded on October 16 near his college in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine (Yvelines) by a terrorist who accused him of showing caricatures of Muhammad to his students. The decision to rename the Saint-Antoine school was taken by the municipal council on October 23. Four members of the opposition out of 27 municipal councilors voted against. “During this deliberation, I was told that the decision was hasty and even that the investigation was not over,” said Xavier Beck.
“Then followed a discussion on the endangerment of children who were to become targets, the same as there had been in Pégomas, in the Alpes-Maritimes, when the college was named after Arnaud. Beltrame in 2018 ”, continued the mayor. “Parents of students had threatened to withdraw their children from school but I see that none did. I tell them that I am not concerned with the parents of the students, but with the students themselves, who are the citizens of tomorrow. And I consider that a teacher from the Republic must be able to give his lessons without censorship, ”added Xavier Beck.
Family agreement
“I hope that tomorrow dozens of schools, high schools and universities will bear the name of this hero of the Republic”, underlined for his part the LR deputy of Nice, Eric Ciotti, during the inauguration.
Other municipalities, since this attack, have also expressed their intention to rename one of their establishments, but that of Cap d’Ail is the first to do so, says the mayor who was able to speak to this subject with Samuel Paty’s sister and needed the family’s consent to proceed with the name change. The municipality of Ollioules, in the Var, had wanted to rename a college but had renounced it in the face of local reluctance.