On the same day that the former leader of the terror group Hamas, Khaled Meshaal, called for a “day of jihad” to show solidarity with Palestinians under siege in Gaza, an 18-year-old Chechen immigrant, Mohammed Mogouchkov, attacked Dominique Bernard, a 57-year-old teacher at Gambetta High School in the Northern French city of Arras with a knife, killing him.
French President praises teacher killed in terror attack for protecting pupils https://t.co/nVJZQzpCbv
— The Mirror (@DailyMirror) October 14, 2023
Mogouchkov, a former student at the school, also knifed the assistant principal and a gym teacher. Both men are in serious condition. The terrorist screamed “Allahu Akbar” while carrying out the attacks.
Mogouchkov was the subject of “active monitoring” by France’s General Directorate of Internal Security (DGSI) and had been stopped and searched as recently as last week, but since authorities had nothing to hold him on, he was released.
French President Emanuel Macron visited the school on Friday afternoon and called on people to remain “united” and to “stand together” in the face of “the barbarity of Islamist terrorism.” He added that “the choice is made not to give in to terror, not to let anything divide us.”
He also deployed an additional 7,000 troops for added security.
France is mobilising 7,000 soldiers and increasing its alert status to “emergency attack” level after the death of a teacher in the northeast town of Arras, stabbed to death Friday by a former student with a record of Islamic radicalisation.
President Emmanuel Macron made the decision after convening an emergency meeting of his security cabinet on Friday night.
Macron has described the stabbing attack, which left two other staff members at the school seriously injured, as “Islamist terrorism.”
He ordered “up to 7,000 soldiers from the Sentinelle force, who will be deployed between now and Monday evening and until further notice”, the Elysée Palace said on Saturday morning.
Macron’s Interior Minister called for the “systematic expulsion” of any foreigner who’s considered “dangerous.” Gérald Darmanin issued a strong statement about the new policy.
“The line of firmness is extremely clear. The identification throughout the national territory of all those who are dangerous, the systematic withdrawal of the residence permit for these foreigners, and the systematic expulsion of any foreigner considered dangerous by the intelligence services,” he stated.
There are about 1,500 people currently registered within the FSPRT, which is “the file for the treatment of reports for the prevention of radicalization of a terrorist nature,” according to Euro Weekly.
“Next Tuesday, we are going to bring together the groups which make it possible, for all the services of the State, to evaluate the persons who are on their territory, to classify them as dangerous, and of course, to be able to carry out their expulsion,” the minister continued. Since 2017, more than 800 radicalised foreigners have been expelled from France, he added.
Referring to those in a regular situation, Darmanin added: “I have asked that the residence permits of people who are in the FSPRT file and who represent a threat to our country be systematically withdrawn.”
“Many of these people are currently before the courts, and we will no doubt have to screen them once again, whatever their status – asylum protection, residence permit – and whatever their age since we are also noticing that radicalised people are getting much younger,” he explained.
Not all the people on the FSPRT would be deported. Many on the list are French citizens, but those who have residence cards could see them revoked following a review conducted by the Interior Ministry.
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