A teacher is beheaded, and France’s war over secularism, freedom of speech and religious equality reignites – CNN

Seventeen people were killed and long-simmering tensions over secularism, Islamism and religious equality erupted into public view. Anti-immigration rhetoric targeting France's Muslim communities also became increasingly common. Since then, these divides have only worsened with further attacks and the subsequent fallout.

Last Friday, teacher Samuel Paty was beheaded in a terrorist attack in the northern Paris suburb of ragny after displaying the controversial Charlie Hebdo cartoons to his students during a lesson, anti-terrorist prosecutor Jean-Franois Ricard said.

The 47-year-old's murder has now reignited the long-simmering conflict over secularism in France.

In early October, a matter of days before Paty's murder, French President Emmanuel Macron said: "There is in this radical Islamism, a methodical organization to contravene the laws of the Republic and create a parallel order, to erect other values." Macron was speaking in Les Mureaux, a north-western suburb of Paris where officials have been working with the Muslim community to combat Islamist extremism.

Paty's death was met with horror across France.

Macron paid tribute to the teacher, whom he said was "killed because he was teaching students freedom of speech, the freedom to believe and not believe."

Thousands gathered in and around the Place de la Rpublique in Paris on Sunday, to celebrate free speech and decry violence. Similar emotional demonstrations were held across the nation.

A national memorial event for Paty was held on Wednesday, where Macron again praised the teacher for having "a passion for knowledge."

France will keep "loving debates, reasonable arguments, we will love science and its controversies," the President added. "We will not give up caricatures, drawings, even if others are retreating."

Freedom of expression

Paty, who was 47, taught history and geography at the Collge du Bois d'Aulne. He used the cartoons in a class on freedom of expression -- a core tenet of French life.

He had warned Muslim students about the images in advance, offering them the chance to opt out of the session. Even so, the lesson sparked controversy in the weeks preceding his death, with one parent at the school -- named by prosecutors as Brahim C. -- lobbying for Paty's dismissal.

On October 7, that parent posted a video on Facebook calling for action against the teacher. The man publicly identified Paty, and demanded that the school dismiss him, according to France's national anti-terrorist prosecutor Jean-Franois Ricard.

A day later, the man filed a complaint about the class; Paty, in turn, filed a complaint for defamation. On October 12, the parent published a second video on YouTube targeting the teacher.

The man who killed Paty was a refugee of Chechen origin, identified as Abdoullakh Abouyezidovitch. The 18-year-old approached pupils outside the school and asked them to point out his victim, Ricard said in a statement on October 17.

Ricard said in a October 21 press conference that the attacker offered two boys, aged 14 and 15, between 300 ($356) and 350 to identify the teacher.

Abouyezidovitch told the students he wanted to "ask the professor to apologize" for showing the controversial cartoons and that he wanted to humiliate and to "hit him."

These schoolchildren remained with the attacker until the teacher left school around 5 p.m., and pointed him out, Ricard said during the press conference.

Abouyezidovitch attacked Paty as he walked home after work. The teenager was not known to intelligence services.

Before police gunned him down later on Friday, Abouyezidovitch posted on Twitter that he had executed one of Macron's "dogs of hell," who had belittled the revered prophet, Ricard said.

The love of lacit

Secularism -- known as "lacit" in French -- is deeply ingrained in French culture, with many believing that nothing -- not even one's religion -- should come before national identity. Yet for those with a strong faith, this tenet is a complex one to hold.

"It's an activist secularism," Catherine Fieschi, executive director of Counterpoint, an advisory group on new forms of risk, told CNN.

"Lacit is a tenet of the Republic, it's cross-party. This cuts across the spectrum -- leftist social democrats are just as against religion in the public realm as [those on the right.]"

Fieschi said secularist laws had been intensifying since 1989. She believes Macron's decision to crack down on extremists may be a positive move for most French Muslims, as the government is opting to focus on extremist organizations and hate speech, rather than community integration.

"Macron has moved increasingly onto this territory since the summer," she said. "He has shifted to talking about separatism, not integration. They're not attacking the communities but these [...] vectors of hate, that are seeking to undermine these communities. They're not mentioning integration, that's not the conversation.

"I think we might actually see this as a turning point," Fieschi added, explaining that the fact that Abouyezidovitch "is not from a former French colony ... that in many respects ... gives the opportunity to French Muslim citizens to feel they're not being targeted by the government."

Crackdown on radical Islamism

The French state responded to Paty's murder with bullish measures.

Seven people will be placed under formal investigation following the attack, Ricard said at a press conference on Wednesday. Officials have opened a judicial investigation for "complicity in murder in links with a terrorist enterprise, for complicity in attempted murder on a person vested with public authority in links with a terrorist enterprise, and for criminal terrorist association with the purpose to harm people," he added.

The group includes the two minors aged 14 and 15, who pointed Paty out to the attacker.

Ricard said the involvement of minors in such a probe was not unprecedented but that the attacker was able to identify Paty "only because of the intervention of these schoolchildren."

Investigators are examining the link "between the actions" of Brahim C. and Paty's murder. They are also investigating Abdelhakim S., a man who interviewed Brahim C. and his daughter, in a video posted online.

Abdelhakim S. has "been part of radical Islamism movements since his arrival on the French territory" and refuted all responsibility in the attack, Ricard said.

Macron and his government have been quick to declare a crackdown on extremist Islamists.

On Tuesday, the President said French citizens -- especially Muslim citizens -- needed to be protected from radical Islamism, which aims "to turn some of our citizens against the Republic, because of their religion. We will not let this happen."

"What our citizens expect from us are actions," Macron said. "And these actions will be intensified."

He said dozens of measures had already been taken against organizations and individuals "pushing forward a radical Islamist project, in other words, an ideology aimed at destroying the Republic," adding that the investigation into Paty's beheading would show that some of these organizations "were involved in Friday's attacks."

Further actions will be announced in the coming days and weeks, Macron said.

On Monday, France's interior minister Grald Darmanin said more than 80 online hate messages would be investigated in the wake of Paty's murder, adding that there would "not be a moment of respite for the enemies of our Republic."

Darmanin said on Twitter that 51 organizations and non-profit groups would be visited by state services this week, and several would be dissolved. The minister is also working to close a mosque in the northern suburbs of Paris. Darmanin said its director was one of those who re-posted a message calling for Paty to be threatened. The post also included the school's location.

Religious discrimination

France is home to more than 5 million Muslims -- the overwhelming majority are not radical Islamists, but many are nonetheless affected by the country's secular legislation.

A series of French laws have curbed how Muslim women dress over the last two decades.

In 2004 hijabs were banned along with Jewish skullcaps and large Christian crosses in public schools. Burqas and niqabs, which cover the face, were banned in 2011.

Legislators who supported the law, including then-President Nicolas Sarkozy, said the garments threatened French secularism and were debasing to women.

The task Macron now faces is one of colossal importance.

He is a year and a half away from an election, in which his main opponent is likely to be Marine Le Pen, the far right politician who, in the aftermath of Paty's death, called for the "eradication of Islamism" in France.

Macron has combined his moves against radical Islamism with public messages of unity.

Correction: An earlier version of this story used an incorrect title for Catherine Fieschi. She is currently the executive director of Counterpoint.

Zamira Rahim wrote in London, Pierre Bairin and Melissa Bell reported from Paris. Pierre Buet, Martin Goillandeau, Barbara Wojazer, Gaelle Fournier and Lindsay Isaac contributed to this story.

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A teacher is beheaded, and France's war over secularism, freedom of speech and religious equality reignites - CNN