As ceremonies continue on Monday commemorating the second anniversary of the death of secondary schoolteacher Samuel Paty, the French daily newspapers look back on a weekend of memorial events marked by sadness and dignity.
Samuel Paty, teacher of History and Geography, was murdered in the street outside his secondary school in Conflans, north-west Paris, on 16 October 2020.
The 47-year-old was decapitated by a young islamist extremist who claimed he had been motivated to avenge Paty's use of caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed in a class on free speech.
The second anniversary was notable for a rare political unanimity, with President Emmanuel Macron setting the tone with a Twitter message reading "To Freedom, to Equality, to Brotherhood. To Samuel Paty."
Surrounded by MPs from a range of parties, the mayor of Conflans told a large crowd that, two years on from the tragedy, "we have dried our tears, we have bandaged our wounds. But that doesn't mean that we are ready to forget.
"Now, more than ever, we have to cherish and defend our freedom."
Education Minister Pap Ndiaye admits that there is still work to be done to prevent another such atrocity. But the minister insists that there is a higher level of awareness and alert than was the case two years ago.
"Defeating the forces hostile to the Republic," said the minister, " is a long-term project."
Free speech is not debatable
"The duty of a teacher is to explain things, not to remain silent." With those words, Samuel Paty's sister, Mickaëlle, began her commemoration speech at a special ceremony in the Sorbonne University in central Paris. She chose to break the silence she has maintained for the past two years, saying it was necessary to honour her brother while waiting for justice to be done.
Daily paper Le Monde reports that several survivors of the 2015 Charlie Hebdo massacre were among the audience.
Referring to the theme of the prize organised in memory of Samuel Paty, "Are we still free to express ourselves?", Mickaëlle remarked that there should be no need to debate that question in France in 2022.
She dedicated her words to "all those around the world who have died, been hurt, tortured or imprisoned for having dared to say what they think".
Returning to the terrible facts of her brother's death and the ensuing divisions on the limits of free speech, she told the assembly that "after the word 'decapitation' there can be no 'yes, but'. There has to be a full stop."
A lie dressed up as truth
On the campaign of disinformation about her brother's teaching methods, notably allegations that he discriminated against Muslim students, Mickaëlle Paty was categorical.
"If we ignore the truth, we can transform a neutral, non-religious action into discrimination. If we disguise a lie in the garments of truth, we can turn a secular gesture into a racist act."
But, continued Mickaëlle Paty, visibly angry, the opinion of a tiny minority of students can not be transformed into a majority.
She condemned those she called "the guilt shifters" for their efforts to support "an islamist project carried forward by certain families who had taken offence without justification".
The education minister echoed the words of the grieving sister.
"In killing Samuel Paty," said Pap Ndiaye, "the fundamentalists were trying to supress culture, intelligence, even the very possibility of teaching.
"They did not suceed. And they never will."
