Lionel Gougelot (correspondent in Hauts-de-France) / Photo credits: Louai Barakat / Hans Lucas / Hans Lucas via AFP
07:38, October 10, 2024modified to
07:38, October 10, 2024
This Wednesday, the young high school student from Tourcoing appeared in court who had slapped her teacher when she asked her to remove her veil. She will finally be judged on December 11. In the meantime, the question arises of the protection of this teacher who is deeply shocked by this incident.
The student who slapped his teacher at the Sévigné high school in Tourcoing, in the North, was brought into immediate appearance on Wednesday. She was placed under judicial supervision. She is prohibited from contacting the professor or going to her establishment. In the Sévigné high school, classes must resume. This Thursday, the Minister of National Education, Anne Jeantet, is expected at the establishment to express her support for the staff.
“We may fear for our safety”
Still traumatized by the violence of which she was a victim, the teacher did not have the strength to appear in court on Wednesday as a civil party against her attacker. But for her lawyer, Éric Cattelin-Denu, while waiting for the hearing which will be held in two months and in a climate of tension around the Islamic veil, the question of the teacher’s safety arises.
“His name has been circulating on social networks. We may fear for his safety. Teachers are there to enforce secularism in schools and we must react,” he explains to Europe 1.
A tense climate
Since Tuesday, the teacher has been subject to the functional protection granted to teachers, a measure which allows support for her administration. And it’s true, confides Catherine Bodet, head of the SGEN-CFDT union, her case must be treated with great vigilance.
“That means that it can be supported from a legal point of view, but not only. I don’t know at all what solutions will be provided, but it could be a change of establishment. It could be many things so that they feel safe and that’s the least they can do, because this tense climate is for everyone.”
The teacher’s colleagues expressed their support for her on Wednesday in a press release, recalling that other acts of violence unrelated to secularism had been reported in recent weeks at the Sévigné high school.
