Beheaded teacher was 'quiet hero' who incarnated French values, Macron says

FILE PHOTO: People gather at the Place de la Republique in Paris, to pay tribute to Samuel Paty, the French teacher who was beheaded on the streets of the Paris suburb of Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, France, October 18, 2020. Placard reads "I am a Samuel". REUTERS/Charles Platiau

PARIS (Reuters) - President Emmanuel Macron paid tribute on Wednesday to a French history teacher beheaded by an Islamist radical as a "quiet hero" dedicated to instilling the democratic values of the French Republic in his pupils.

Samuel Paty's attacker, a teenager of Chechen origin, had wanted to avenge the teacher's use of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad in a class on freedom of expression for 13-year-olds. Muslims see any depiction of the Prophet as blasphemous.