The French Prime Minister announced that a teenage girl will be prosecuted for falsely accusing her headmaster of hitting her during an argument about wearing a traditional Muslim headscarf at school. The headmaster complying with French law demanded the headscarf be removed on school premises and later after receiving death threats he resigned on Thursday the 28th of March, reports the British broadcaster BBC.
Since the murders of two teachers, threats to French schools have been taken extremely seriously.
The headmaster of the Paris lycée announced his decision to colleagues in an e-mail, citing concerns for his own safety and that of the institution. “I am leaving after seven … years with you and 45 years in public education,” he wrote to his colleagues, thanking them for the support he had received.
In the incident on the 28th of February, the headmaster ordered three female students to obey the law and remove their headscarves on school premises. Two of them obeyed, but the third refused and an argument erupted.
In the following days, the headmaster received death threats on social media,
which the school reported to the Ministry of Interior’s hotline. Prosecutors said two people were detained in connection with the death threats.
The police found no evidence that the headmaster had hit the girl and now the Prime Minister, Gabriel Attal, has announced that she will be prosecuted for making false accusations. He stressed the government’s support for those fighting against secularism in educational institutions.
Both left and right politicians expressed outrage at the hate campaign on the internet, expressing concern at the government’s failure to protect schools. Some criticised the state’s response to the Islamist influence, while others voiced regret at the political inaction, calling the situation a collective failure.
Several schools in Paris were closed on Wednesday after receiving bomb threats, following a trend last week when around 30 schools received similar threats. Although taken seriously, the threats raise concerns about possible disinformation campaigns that could involve Russia.
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