PARIS, France (AFP) — French politicians from across the spectrum expressed dismay on Wednesday over the resignation of a Paris school principal who received death threats after asking a student to remove her Muslim veil while on the school premises.
In a show of support, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, a former education minister, was set to meet with the principal Wednesday, his office said.
Secularism and religion are hot-button issues in France, which is home to Europe’s largest Muslim community.
In 2004, authorities banned school children from wearing “signs or outfits by which students ostensibly show a religious affiliation” such as headscarves, turbans, or kippas, on the basis of the country’s secular laws which are meant to guarantee neutrality in state institutions.
The headmaster’s departure comes at a time of deep tensions in the country following a series of incidents including the killing of a teacher by an Islamist former pupil last year.
The headmaster at the Maurice-Ravel lycee in eastern Paris quit after receiving death threats online following an altercation with a student last month, officials told AFP on Tuesday.
France’s Prime Minister Gabriel Attal attends a ‘national tribute; ceremony to late French politician and admiral, Philippe de Gaulle, son of General de Gaulle, at the Hotel des Invalides in Paris, March 20, 2024. (Ludovic Marin, Pool via AP)
In late February, he had asked three students to remove their hijabs on school premises, but one of them refused and an altercation ensued, according to prosecutors. He later received death threats online.
In a message addressed to the school’s staff, quoted by the French communist daily L’Humanite, the principal said that he had taken the decision to leave for his “safety and that of the school.”
Education officials said he had taken “early retirement.”
A ‘collective failure’
“It’s a disgrace,” Bruno Retailleau, the head of the right-wing Republicans faction in the Senate upper house, said on X on Wednesday.
Boris Vallaud, the head of the Socialist deputies in the National Assembly lower house, told television broadcaster France 2 that the incident was “a collective failure.”
Marion Marechal, the granddaughter of far-right patriarch Jean-Marie Le Pen and a far-right politician herself, spoke on Sud Radio of a “defeat of the state” in the face of “the Islamist gangrene.”
French far-right figure Marion Marechal, speaks to the press at the European Parliament on February 7, 2024, in Strasbourg, eastern France. (AP Photo/Jean-Francois Badias)
Maud Bregeon, a lawmaker with President Emmanuel Macron’s Renaissance party, also took aim at “an Islamist movement.”
“Authority lies with school heads and teachers, and we have a duty to support this educational community,” Bregeon said.
Socialist Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo called the principal to “assure him of her total support and solidarity,” said her office, adding that she was “appalled and dismayed.”
The student lodged a complaint against the principal, accusing him of mistreating her during the incident. She told the French daily, Le Parisien, that she had been “hit hard on the arm” by the principal.
The student is an adult who was at the school for vocational training.
Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo attends ceremonies marking the 78th anniversary of the victory against the Nazis and the end of the World War II in Europe, in Paris, May 8, 2023. (Ludovic Marin, Pool via AP)
The Paris public prosecutor’s office told AFP on Wednesday that the student’s complaint had been dismissed.
Cyber-harassment probe
At the same time, an investigation was opened into cyber-harassment following the death threats against the headmaster.
In a further show of support, the education ministry said that it would “never” abandon teachers in the face of “threats.” The ministry said that “all teams” remained mobilized, adding that the principal’s decision to leave his post was “understandable, given the seriousness of the attacks against him.”
Education Minister Nicole Belloubet visited the school in early March and deplored the “unacceptable attacks.”
A 26-year-old man has been arrested for making death threats against the principal on the internet. He is due to stand trial in April.
France’s Education and Youth Minister Nicole Belloubet speaks during a session of questions to the government at The National Assembly in Paris on March 26, 2024. (JULIEN DE ROSA / AFP)
The uproar comes as dozens of French schools have received threats in recent weeks.
Attal has pledged to “hunt down” the people responsible for sending them.
Around 50 schools in Paris received new bomb threats on Wednesday, some including a “very violent video,” education authorities said. The mayor’s office said classes were briefly interrupted for security checks.
The prime minister pledged to increase security, including near schools, after the Islamic State jihadist group claimed responsibility for the killing of 137 people at a Moscow concert on Friday.
French politicians in uproar after school principal resigns over hijab altercation - The Times of Israel
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