Teacher dies in France after stabbing attack by pupil
A teacher in a French school has died after being stabbed by a pupil, prosecutors have revealed.
The 52-year-old Spanish teacher was attacked in a school in Saint-Jean-de-Luz, in the département of Pyrénées-Atlantiques, close to the border with Spain, as she gave a class.
A 16-year-old boy, reported to be a pupil at the school, has been arrested.
Police were called to the school after the attack at around 10am on Wednesday. She was given emergency aid at the scene, but Bayonne prosecutor Jerome Bourrier told AFP she died of her wounds.
Bourrier held a press conference on Wednesday alongside France's education minister, Pap Ndiaye, where he said that more concrete details surrounding the investigation would be revealed on Thursday afternoon in a separate briefing.
He clarified that the suspect is still in police custody (garde à vue) and that criminal justice forces were not familiar with him previous to this event.
Bourrier announced that an investigation had been opened for "murder, that is to say murder with premeditation", and that the investigation will be headed by local police, not by anti-terror police.
The school, Saint-Thomas d'Aquin, is a private and Catholic-based establishment close to the centre of Saint-Jean-de-Luz, which in summer is one of France's best loved resorts on the sandy Basque country coast.
Education minister Pap Ndiaye visited the scene this afternoon, and called for a moment of silence to be recognised in French schools on Thursday. "It is time for emotion, and time for solidarity", Ndiaye said during the press briefing.
Immense émotion suite au décès aujourd’hui d’une professeure au lycée Saint-Thomas-d’Aquin à Saint-Jean-de-Luz. Mes pensées pour sa famille, ses collègues et ses élèves. Je me rends sans délai sur place.
— Pap Ndiaye (@PapNdiaye) February 22, 2023
Other government officials have also commented on the attack, government spokesman Olivier Véran described it as "a trauma on a national scale".
The attack has echoed the case of Samuel Paty, a civics teacher who was attacked and beheaded outside his school in October 2020. His attacker was an Islamic extremist who attacked him after false rumours circulated online about one of Paty's classes on the subject of the controversial cartoons of magazine Charlie Hebdo.
Comments
See Also
The 52-year-old Spanish teacher was attacked in a school in Saint-Jean-de-Luz, in the département of Pyrénées-Atlantiques, close to the border with Spain, as she gave a class.
A 16-year-old boy, reported to be a pupil at the school, has been arrested.
Police were called to the school after the attack at around 10am on Wednesday. She was given emergency aid at the scene, but Bayonne prosecutor Jerome Bourrier told AFP she died of her wounds.
Bourrier held a press conference on Wednesday alongside France's education minister, Pap Ndiaye, where he said that more concrete details surrounding the investigation would be revealed on Thursday afternoon in a separate briefing.
He clarified that the suspect is still in police custody (garde à vue) and that criminal justice forces were not familiar with him previous to this event.
Bourrier announced that an investigation had been opened for "murder, that is to say murder with premeditation", and that the investigation will be headed by local police, not by anti-terror police.
The school, Saint-Thomas d'Aquin, is a private and Catholic-based establishment close to the centre of Saint-Jean-de-Luz, which in summer is one of France's best loved resorts on the sandy Basque country coast.
Education minister Pap Ndiaye visited the scene this afternoon, and called for a moment of silence to be recognised in French schools on Thursday. "It is time for emotion, and time for solidarity", Ndiaye said during the press briefing.
Immense émotion suite au décès aujourd’hui d’une professeure au lycée Saint-Thomas-d’Aquin à Saint-Jean-de-Luz. Mes pensées pour sa famille, ses collègues et ses élèves. Je me rends sans délai sur place.
— Pap Ndiaye (@PapNdiaye) February 22, 2023
Other government officials have also commented on the attack, government spokesman Olivier Véran described it as "a trauma on a national scale".
The attack has echoed the case of Samuel Paty, a civics teacher who was attacked and beheaded outside his school in October 2020. His attacker was an Islamic extremist who attacked him after false rumours circulated online about one of Paty's classes on the subject of the controversial cartoons of magazine Charlie Hebdo.
Join the conversation in our comments section below. Share your own views and experience and if you have a question or suggestion for our journalists then email us at [email protected].
Please keep comments civil, constructive and on topic – and make sure to read our terms of use before getting involved.
Please log in here to leave a comment.