Yesterday, a French Catholic teacher was fired after making racist comments against Muslim students.
One Muslim student accused Joseph Wresinski d’Angers Catholic School’s Eco-Management teacher of being racist. He claims that he was invited to ‘change religion’ by the teacher after stating that Muslims are a problem within Catholic schools.
On December 2, the two-days following the teacher’s alleged remarks, the student made a formal complain to Angers Police.
A complaint was filed by the teacher the following day. He claimed that the student had committed ‘physical, verbal violence against a person during the course of public services’.
Yesterday, the school suspended the teacher after the student expressed concerns that he might become “the next Samuel Paty” – an Islamist teenage tyrant murdered a history teacher in 2020. The teacher had drawn a cartoon depicting the Prophet Mohammed as part of a lesson on free speech.
An investigation into the complaints has now been launched, according to Angers public prosecutor Public prosecutor Eric Bouillard.
One student from the Joseph-Wresinski d’Angers Catholic Schools (pictured) accused an eco-management teacher of racism. The instructor was suspended pending further investigation
He expressed his fears about becoming ‘the next Samuel Paty. This was a teacher in history who, in an unidentified way, had been murdered for showing cartoons of Prophet Mohammed to students in class (undated photograph of Paty).
Schoolchildren wearing protective face masks, arrive to pay tribute to Samuel Paty, the French teacher who has beheaded on the streets of the Paris suburb of Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, at the Anne Franck college in Plescop, France, November 2, 2020
This story began in a class lesson at school on November 30, where students claimed that the teacher was talking too much about Catholic schools from the past.
According to the teacher, he said that Catholic schools shouldn’t have accepted Catholic students. However, a class member countered by saying, “But Catholic schools aren’t only reserved for Catholics.”
According to testimony from the Muslim student, the teacher said, “That’s what’s the trouble”, then turned on the student and stated, “Well, he could always modify his religion.”
On October 21st 2020, a portrait of Samuel Paty, a French teacher is shown on the façade of Opera Comedie in Montpellier. This was part of a national tribute to the teacher who was killed for his cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed.
Infuriated at the response of the teacher, the Muslim student stormed out and shouted ‘racist! He left the classroom.
The teacher admitted that he had invited Muslims to become Catholics, but said it was humour.
He said that the comments were part of a conversation about France’s legal past, in which Catholicism was and Christianity were a key part.
The teacher stated that despite being a teacher for 27 years, this was the first time she had faced such an issue.
“It doesn’t make sense. “It doesn’t make sense. The student filed a complaint. I tried to speak to his parents but they rejected me.
After paying respects to the coffin belonging to the slain French teacher Samuel Paty, Emmanuel Macron departs the Sorbonne University courtyard during a Paris national memorial, Wednesday Oct. 21, 2020.
A French TV station has captured the scene after the stabbing death of Samuel Paty last October.
Anthony Bélangé, the Director of the school in Angers, said: ‘Conflicts between staff and students can happen, but the complaints have taken this to a new level.
“This is a very emotionally charged situation, and I’ve asked students in class to write factual testimony about the events. These will then be sent to an investigation team.
Bélangé went on to say that the incident represents the first time he had seen any problems with the teacher in question, but that the school decided to suspend him as a precaution during the course of the investigation.
The suspension was made to “preserve integrity of the teacher who is afraid for his own life and maintain the presumption that innocence during the investigation”.
He said, “20% of our students in Islam are young Muslims,”
“We live peacefully together. We support secularism, and we respect everyone’s beliefs.
France’s Republic has a strong secular tradition in education, and France is home to approximately five million Muslims, the largest Muslim minority of any EU member nation.