French officials plan to expel 231 radicalized foreign nationals in a sweeping crackdown after the brutal slaying of a teacher Friday.
Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin said he intends to move swiftly in response to the killing of Samuel Paty, a history teacher who was beheaded after showing cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad in class.
President Emmanuel Macron has called the killing an “Islamist terrorist attack.”
The primary response to the attack includes the deportation of 231 foreigners in the File of Alerts for the Prevention of Terrorist Attacks (FSPRT), which tracks radicalized activities, according to Europe 1.
French President Emmanuel Macron, flanked by French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin, second left, speaks in front of a high school Friday Oct.16, 2020 in Conflans Sainte-Honorine, northwest of Paris, after a history teacher who opened a discussion with high school students on caricatures of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad was beheaded. French President Emmanuel Macron denounced what he called an “Islamist terrorist attack” against a history teacher decapitated in a Paris suburb Friday, urging the nation to stand united against extremism. (Abdulmonam Eassa, Pool via AP)
Darmanin had planned to expel the people already, having traveled to Morocco the previous week to ask the government to accept nine of its radicalized nationals. He plans to meet with officials in Algeria and Tunisia to discuss similar deals.
On the list are 180 people currently in prison and another 51 individuals who will be arrested shortly, officials said. More than 850 illegal immigrants are registered to the FSPRT, 24 News reported.
A man lays a flower outside the school where a slain history teacher was working, Saturday, Oct. 17, 2020, in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, northwest of Paris. French President Emmanuel Macron denounced what he called an “Islamist terrorist attack” against a history teacher decapitated in a Paris suburb Friday, urging the nation to stand united against extremism. The teacher had discussed caricatures of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad with his class, authorities said. The suspected attacker was shot to death by police after Friday’s beheading. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
French authorities have already arrested 11 individuals in connection with the killing, the BBC reported, though it is not clear if they are also part of the planned expulsions.
Four close relatives of the suspect were detained shortly after the attack. Six more people were held on Saturday, including the father of a pupil at the school and a preacher described by French media as a radical Islamist.
Darmanin also plans to bring into focus the question of the right to asylum, since an 18-year-old Chechen refugee, identified only as Abdoulakh A., is suspected of killing Paty. The minister asked his services to more carefully examine people who wish to obtain refugee status in France.
SUSPECT IN TEACHER’S BEHEADING IN FRANCE WAS CHECHEN TEEN
The suspect was found a short distance from the victim, carrying a knife. After the suspect refused to drop his weapon, police shot and killed him.
French anti-terrorism prosecutor Jean-Francois Ricard has said a text claiming responsibility for the attack and a photograph of the victim were found on the suspect’s phone. A photo of Paty’s decapitated head was posted on a Twitter account that belonged to the suspect.
“I have executed one of the dogs from hell who dared to put Mohammad down,” the message with the photo said, according to authorities.
The beheading has upset moderate French Muslims. On Sunday, political leaders, associations and unions are set to demonstrate in Paris and other major cities to call for support of freedom of speech and pay tribute to Paty.
A national tribute will be paid to Paty on Wednesday.
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“A civilization does not kill an innocent person, barbarism does,” Tareq Oubrou, imam of a mosque in Bordeaux, told France Inter on Saturday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.