Zürcher Nachrichten - Teacher slain in French school, 'probably' tied to Gaza violence

EUR -
AED 4.269035
AFN 80.781812
ALL 97.456094
AMD 446.576198
ANG 2.080099
AOA 1065.794205
ARS 1494.414015
AUD 1.786168
AWG 2.092071
AZN 1.980459
BAM 1.952133
BBD 2.345793
BDT 141.045021
BGN 1.956323
BHD 0.438891
BIF 3400.777093
BMD 1.162261
BND 1.491298
BOB 8.027918
BRL 6.486354
BSD 1.161817
BTN 100.019096
BWP 15.598695
BYN 3.802157
BYR 22780.325028
BZD 2.333716
CAD 1.596192
CDF 3354.287055
CHF 0.932713
CLF 0.029182
CLP 1119.862642
CNY 8.342655
CNH 8.346165
COP 4657.181754
CRC 586.298532
CUC 1.162261
CUP 30.799929
CVE 110.589638
CZK 24.634179
DJF 206.557568
DKK 7.463699
DOP 70.259163
DZD 151.496486
EGP 57.439973
ERN 17.433922
ETB 158.653194
FJD 2.621369
FKP 0.866542
GBP 0.866454
GEL 3.150183
GGP 0.866542
GHS 12.116623
GIP 0.866542
GMD 83.106172
GNF 10060.535793
GTQ 8.920242
GYD 243.073343
HKD 9.117767
HNL 30.626041
HRK 7.533319
HTG 152.54342
HUF 398.923459
IDR 18977.696027
ILS 3.902549
IMP 0.866542
INR 100.129761
IQD 1522.56254
IRR 48945.741055
ISK 142.354235
JEP 0.866542
JMD 185.790958
JOD 0.824089
JPY 172.949203
KES 150.51728
KGS 101.640213
KHR 4672.291561
KMF 491.989694
KPW 1046.077104
KRW 1616.942576
KWD 0.355234
KYD 0.968181
KZT 619.356427
LAK 25064.169244
LBP 104080.516031
LKR 350.521482
LRD 233.614962
LSL 20.595717
LTL 3.431856
LVL 0.703041
LYD 6.311522
MAD 10.521377
MDL 19.762872
MGA 5148.818764
MKD 61.444565
MMK 2439.88243
MNT 4168.596049
MOP 9.392835
MRU 46.281692
MUR 53.119698
MVR 17.903172
MWK 2018.271404
MXN 21.795313
MYR 4.935007
MZN 74.338683
NAD 20.595712
NGN 1779.387897
NIO 42.713547
NOK 11.840776
NPR 160.030354
NZD 1.948796
OMR 0.447149
PAB 1.161817
PEN 4.142886
PGK 4.804212
PHP 66.377189
PKR 331.157397
PLN 4.244708
PYG 8992.106697
QAR 4.231334
RON 5.072695
RSD 117.06767
RUB 91.265035
RWF 1670.750879
SAR 4.359791
SBD 9.64543
SCR 16.424358
SDG 697.942292
SEK 11.235354
SGD 1.492697
SHP 0.913355
SLE 26.62005
SLL 24372.046713
SOS 664.236693
SRD 43.245469
STD 24056.466061
STN 24.843339
SVC 10.165902
SYP 15112.221726
SZL 20.595702
THB 37.634455
TJS 11.182492
TMT 4.079538
TND 3.367657
TOP 2.722137
TRY 46.923174
TTD 7.887182
TWD 34.181766
TZS 3028.605902
UAH 48.520146
UGX 4163.178714
USD 1.162261
UYU 46.822036
UZS 14728.762822
VES 135.943958
VND 30404.760344
VUV 139.137302
WST 3.060577
XAF 654.732599
XAG 0.030439
XAU 0.000347
XCD 3.14107
XCG 2.093866
XDR 0.81565
XOF 654.353599
XPF 119.331742
YER 280.163552
ZAR 20.584075
ZMK 10461.752209
ZMW 26.750744
ZWL 374.247723
  • CMSC

    0.0900

    22.314

    +0.4%

  • CMSD

    0.0250

    22.285

    +0.11%

  • RBGPF

    0.0000

    69.04

    0%

  • SCS

    0.0400

    10.74

    +0.37%

  • RELX

    0.0300

    53

    +0.06%

  • RIO

    -0.1400

    59.33

    -0.24%

  • GSK

    0.1300

    41.45

    +0.31%

  • NGG

    0.2700

    71.48

    +0.38%

  • BP

    0.1750

    30.4

    +0.58%

  • BTI

    0.7150

    48.215

    +1.48%

  • BCC

    0.7900

    91.02

    +0.87%

  • JRI

    0.0200

    13.13

    +0.15%

  • VOD

    0.0100

    9.85

    +0.1%

  • BCE

    -0.0600

    22.445

    -0.27%

  • RYCEF

    0.1000

    12

    +0.83%

  • AZN

    -0.1200

    73.71

    -0.16%

Teacher slain in French school, 'probably' tied to Gaza violence
Teacher slain in French school, 'probably' tied to Gaza violence / Photo: Ludovic MARIN - POOL/AFP

Teacher slain in French school, 'probably' tied to Gaza violence

A Chechen-origin man fatally stabbed a teacher and severely wounded three other adults Friday at a school in northeastern France, with authorities suggesting a probable link to the ongoing violence in the Middle East.

Text size:

The attack, denounced by President Emmanuel Macron as an act of "Islamist terror", was in the town of Arras which has large Jewish and Muslim populations.

"This school was struck by the barbarity of Islamist terrorism," Macron said after visiting the school, saying the victim had "probably saved many lives" with his courage in seeking to block the attacker.

Macron said another "attempted attack" in another region had been foiled by security forces.

According to the interior ministry, he was referring to the arrest of a "radicalised" man who was arrested leaving a prayer hall in the Yvelines region of Paris for carrying a prohibited weapon.

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin later said there was "probably a link between what's happening in the Middle East and this incident" in Arras.

France has upped its alert level to the highest position following a crunch security meeting chaired by Macron later Friday, the prime minister's office told AFP.

The suspected attacker, Mohammed Moguchkov, who is in his 20s, was arrested by police.

A total of eight people were in police custody on Friday, a police source said.

In addition to the attacker, several members of his family were arrested "for the purposes of the investigation", including one of his brothers and his sister, other police sources said.

The national anti-terrorist prosecutor announced that it has opened an investigation.

Moguchkov is from Russia's mainly Muslim southern Caucasus region of Chechnya. He was already on a French national register known as "Fiche S" as a potential security threat, a police source told AFP, and under electronic and physical surveillance by France's domestic intelligence agency, the DGSI.

Moguchkov cried the Arabic phrase "Allahu akbar!" (God is greatest), according to the preliminary elements of the investigation.

- 'Terrorism has struck' -

The victim, a French teacher, was stabbed in the throat and chest.

Among those wounded were a school security agent who was stabbed multiple times and is fighting for his life, and a teacher in a less serious condition, the source added.

A cleaner was also hurt, anti-terror prosecutor Jean-Francois Ricard said.

No pupils at the school were hurt, said another police source.

The attack comes almost three years to the day after the October 16, 2020 beheading of teacher Samuel Paty, also by a Chechen, near his school in a Paris suburb.

"Three years after the assassination of Samuel Paty, terrorism has struck a school again and in a context that we all know," Macron said.

Police say Moguchkov's brother, aged 17, was detained close to another school.

- Panic in school -

The pupils and teachers were confined to the school premises before being allowed out later in the afternoon.

A large security cordon was set up around the school, where the police, firefighters and emergency services were deployed, AFP journalists said.

Parents gathered in front of the school, where the pupils were visible through the windows.

A philosophy teacher who witnessed the attack, Martin Dousseau, described a moment of panic during break-time, when the schoolchildren found themselves face-to-face with the armed man.

"He attacked canteen staff. I wanted to go down to intervene, he turned to me, chased me and asked me if I was a history and geography teacher," said Dousseau.

"We barricaded ourselves in, then the police arrived and immobilised him."

France has suffered a series of attacks by Islamist extremists since 2015 including the suicide and gun attacks in November 2015 on targets in Paris claimed by Islamic State (IS) that killed 130 people.

There has been a relative lull in recent years, even as officials have warned that the threat remains.

- Stepped-up-protection -

Macron said in an address to the nation on Thursday that 582 religious and cultural facilities in France were receiving stepped-up police protection after the attack by Hamas on Israel.

Speaking in Arras, he reaffirmed his message from that address for the French to "stand shoulder to shoulder" and "stay united".

Darmanin on Thursday had banned pro-Palestinian demonstrations in France until further notice, on the grounds they "are likely to generate disturbances to public order".

In defiance of his order, several hundred people gathered in central Paris and other French cities late Thursday shouting pro-Palestinian and anti-Israeli slogans, AFP correspondents said.

Police in Paris used tear gas to disperse the protesters, and said they had arrested 10 out of the some 3,000 people present.

B.Brunner--NZN