France pays tribute to teacher beheaded by radical Islamist

PARIS (AP) — French schools are paying tribute to a teacher beheaded by a radical Islamist last year after he showed caricatures of the prophet of Islam to his class. Samuel Paty was murdered on Oct. 16 last year near his school in a northwest Paris suburb by an 18-year-old of Chechen origin who had become radicalized. The attacker was in turn shot dead by police. The two-day national homage includes a minute of silence to be held in schools on Friday with teachers to organize a discussion in classes with students around the memory of Paty. The killing led French authorities to reaffirm France’s cherished rights of expression and secularism.