Some Jewish schools in Britain are closed, after shutting their doors amid fears over today’s global day of Jihad.
It comes as a French teacher was killed in a knife attack at a French school “after the suspect shouted Allahu Akhbar.”
Police attended the scene of the incident at City School Gambetta-Carnot, a secondary school in Arras, this morning after reports were received that three people had been stabbed. It has since been reported by Le Parisien that two other people, a sports teacher and a security guard, were also injured.
One Irish teacher working in Paris told Gript this afternoon that there “was fear in the air” across the French capital.
The primary school teacher spoke of how the school where she works has asked all parents to come in and collect children, and not to wait outside as usual.
“There’s fear in the air. Last night there was a huge pro-Palestine march,” the source said.
A French union leader told the media that the teacher was killed “protecting pupils” and that the security guard remains in a critical condition.
A source told the French newspaper that no other pupils were hurt in the knife attack. The victim is understood to be a French language teacher, while the suspect, according to BFMTV is a 20-year-old former pupil at the school who is reported to be of Chenchen origin. Reports say he was known to authorities and had been placed on a terror watch list.
Sources told Le Parisien that the suspect’s brother was arrested close to a nearby school, but did not have a weapon in his possession.
Speaking to France Inter, Sophie Vénétitay, of the SNES-FSU teachers’ union said: “The lycee security guard is currently in a critical condition because he tried to stop the former pupil from entering the school.
“The teacher who was killed was stabbed trying to protect pupils. They did what we all do: work for our pupils all the time, naturally teach them things but also protect them.”
The attack comes as France moved to ban all pro-Palestinian protests on Thursday, as footage emerged of heated demonstrations erupting throughout the country, with French police clashing with demonstrators. Similar footage emerged today from the country:
French police crack down on pro-Hamas Day of Rage demonstration in Paris.
Has France finally had enough?#JihadFriday #FridayThe13th #DayofJihad #Paris #France #Palestine #Hamas #IsraelUnderAttack #Terrorists #ILLEGALS #Police #NorthGaza #Palestinian #Jihadis pic.twitter.com/jSFA5si5aF
— ᗩℓιѕѕα♡ (@Alissa4TheUSA) October 13, 2023
French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin announced the ban, sending “strict instructions” to ban all “pro-Palestinian demonstrations because they are likely to generate public order disturbances” in a statement seen by AFP and reported across French media. Dermanin said that more than 100 antisemitic cases had been reported in the country since the Hammas attack, which has triggered a “complete siege” on the 2 million residents of Gaza.
in Beijing, China, it was also reported that an Israeli embassy employee had allegedly been stabbed by a foreign national.
Across the world, anti-Israeli protests are being held as part of the ‘day of Jihad’ after Khaled Meshaal, former leader of Hamas, urged thousands of Muslims to take to the streets to demonstrate. Demonstrations took place after Friday prayers in Muslim communities worldwide, condemning Israel’s retaliatory attacks on Gaza and voicing support for Palestinians.
In the UK, Jewish school pupils were allowed by schools to disguise their uniforms over fear of attacks linked to the war in Israel, The Telegraph reported.
At least four Jewish schools did not open today in England, amid safety concerns over a surge in reports of anti-Semitism. Two north London schools were among those who informed parents last night they would not be opening “in the interests of our precious children.”
One Jewish charity told the British newspaper it had witnessed a 324 per cent increase in reports of anti-Semitism as a result of the escalating conflict in Israel and Palestine.
The Community Security Trust (CST) said that this involved six assaults, 14 direct threats, three instances of vandalism, and 66 cases of abusive behaviour.
Meanwhile as many as 10,000 protestors are set to attend a London protest against israeli military action.
It comes as the deputy commissioner for the Met Police, Dame Lynee Owens, said it was important to distinguish between support for Hammas and support for Palestine.
Dame Owens said that anti-Israeli protestors could not be arrested just for waving a Palestinian flag, and that support for the Palestinian cause could not be interpreted “as automatically being support for Hamas.”
“Just days after such a barbaric terrorist attack, the sight of people gathering outside the Israeli Embassy, waving flags, chanting, letting off flares, some with scarves across their faces, will be interpreted by many of you as a direct statement of support for what took place on Saturday in Israel,” she said.
But she continued: “What we cannot do is interpret support for the Palestinian cause more broadly as automatically being support for Hamas or any other proscribed group, even when it follows so soon after an attack carried out by that group and when to many the link seems indisputable.
“An expression of support for the Palestinian people more broadly, including flying the Palestinian flag, does not, alone, constitute a criminal offence.”