Facing flak over school attack, France to tighten security

Arras, October 16

France said on Monday it would speed up the expulsion of radicalised foreigners and beef up a draft immigration law as the government faces stiff criticism from the right after Friday’s fatal stabbing of a teacher.

The attack, in which 20-year-old Mohamed M, who was monitored by police as a possible security risk, killed teacher Dominique Bernard, prompted the government to put the country on its highest security alert and deploy thousands of troops.

President Emmanuel Macron has condemned the attack as “barbaric Islamic terrorism”. Schools across France on Monday observed a minute of silence for Bernard and for history teacher Samuel Paty, who was beheaded three years ago by a Chechen teenager who wanted to avenge his use of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad during a class on freedom of expression.

Following a government security meeting, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said authorities would comb through lists of people posing security risks and expel those who could be sent out of France, pulling residency permits or asylum protection from those who benefit from either but are seen as a risk.

Darmanin said that Friday’s attack had come as a “jihadist atmosphere” developed after the Hamas attack on Israel.

Up to 7,000 soldiers are being deployed on increased security patrols in major city centres and at tourist sites, the government said. — Reuters

Bomb alert in school

The Gambetta high school in Arras where a teacher, Dominique Bernard, was fatally stabbed on Friday was briefly evacuated following a bomb alert on Monday, officials said.