Expand image captioned Sohib, right, at home with his younger brother, Wail; his grandfather Messoud; and his father, Nabil.
Credit...Andrea Mantovani for The New York Times
In a Paris suburb, a 17-year-old who repeatedly expressed support for the slain teacher’s killer is expected to appear before an investigating judge. Near Marseille, two 16-year-old boys were arrested — one for endorsing the beheading, the other for refusing to stop listening to music with headphones during the minute of silence.
Of 17 cases that resulted in police investigations, seven involved Muslim students and one a Roman Catholic, according to interviews by The Times and the local news media; one had no religion, and the religion of the others could not be determined. In at least 14 of these cases, students were held in police custody, with most being accused of “defending terrorism.”
In France, public schools have played a central role in instilling national values, including laïcité, the strict secularism that separates religion from the state. So when Mr. Paty was decapitated, the killing was regarded as an attack on France and left a lasting trauma among teachers.
The education minister, Mr. Blanquer, asked all public schools to observe a minute of silence in tribute to the slain teacher on Nov. 2. A fierce advocate of laïcité, the minister warned that he would not tolerate disrespect.
“We are going to strengthen moral and civic education so that the stakes of the freedom of expression are explicit,” he said in a radio interview a few days later.
Beyond the minute of silence, teachers were given little guidance on how to discuss the killing in class, leading to confusion, according to several teachers and union officials.
“Everything was done in a rush without any real time for educational preparation,” said Sophie Vénétitay, a teacher and union official. She added that teachers were given little opportunity to resolve the incidents within the schools and with the parents, and that a judicial response prevailed.
Expand image captioned A building in the La Contamine neighborhood where the families live.
Credit...Andrea Mantovani for The New York Times
In a middle school near Nice, a 14-year-old girl was arrested, held in custody for eight hours and subjected to a full-body search after questioning the tribute to the teacher and then, during a following debate, saying that “he had asked for it.” The girl, who is not affiliated with any religion, apologized, said her mother, who asked to be identified only by her first name, Magali.
The mother said she disapproved of her daughter’s comments, but described them as “a teenager’s blunder.” Her daughter is now seeing a psychiatrist and refuses to go back to school.
The teenage girl has been summoned to appear before a prosecutor in January on a charge of “defending acts of terrorism,” according to court files obtained by The Times. She is expected to be sentenced to a multiday class on citizenship.
Lilia Parisot, an official at the Nice regional education authority who confirmed the incident, said that she had received clear guidelines from the education ministry to report any incident. “The orders were to overlook nothing,” she said.
Expand image captioned Ms. Yildirim and her husband, Servet, having breakfast. She has lived in France since age 6.
Credit...Andrea Mantovani for The New York Times
In Albertville, the four 10-year-olds belong to families — three of Turkish and one of Algerian descent — who have lived in the city for years. Some have older siblings who attended the same small primary school, Louis Pasteur.
In the classroom discussion, the teacher asked the pupils whether he, too, could be beheaded if he showed caricatures of Muhammad, according to interviews with two of the children, four mothers and two fathers.
Nathalie Reveyaz, an education official focusing on secularism in the region that includes Albertville, confirmed that the teacher had asked that question, placing it in the context of caricatures during the reign of Charlemagne.
The boys answered that the teacher could be beheaded, their parents said, but meant it as a statement of fact, not as a threat.
“The teacher said, ‘If I draw the prophet, what would you do?’” recalled Sohib, the boy now afraid to talk in class. “Well, I said, ‘There are other people who will come to kill you, like Samuel Paty.’”
Another boy, Yunus-Emre Akdag, said that in “Islam, we don’t have the right to kill. It’s God who can give life, and it’s God who can take it,” according to his mother, Mukaddes Akdag. Her son added in class, “If people show caricatures of our prophet, they will burn in the other world.”
Expand image captioned Mukaddes Akdag, second from right, the mother of one of the detained boys, chatting with neighbors near the Louis Pasteur school.
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Credit...Andrea Mantovani for The New York Times
The girl, Emira Yildirim, said she had expressed regret for the slain teacher, but added that “if he had not shown the caricatures, it wouldn’t have happened.”
The parents said that their children’s remarks contained no threat, but simply did not fit with what education officials wanted to hear in the current politicized climate.
“The children said what they thought,” said Emira’s mother, Zulbiye Yildirim.
Ms. Reveyaz, the education official, said, “The teacher was shocked, shaken,” adding that the comments could reflect “what the children were hearing within their families.”
The next day, the teacher became alarmed after finding an anonymous letter whose author remains unknown, she said. “T mort,” it read, “You’re dead.” The local prosecutor, Pierre-Yves Michau, was unavailable for an interview, his office said.
After the raid, while the children were in custody, the police asked the parents a series of questions: What did they think of the caricatures? Did they pray? Did they go to the mosque? Did they observe Ramadan? Did their husbands force them to wear veils?
“Strange questions,” Fatima Harid, Sohib’s mother, said, asking why questions about their religious practices were relevant. An officer told her that her son, who described himself as Muslim during questioning, should say “French Muslim” instead, she said.
But the incident has left the parents wondering whether they will ever be considered French.
The mother of Emira, Ms. Yildirim, 46, said she had lived in France since age 6 and had attended its public schools. Hers was an “integrated family,” she said. Residents of Albertville for 19 years, she and her husband, a builder, run a family construction business. She was active at the school, regularly volunteering on field trips. The couple even sent their oldest daughter and son, now in their 20s, to a private high school — a Catholic institution — for the quality of the education.
“I’m worried,” she said, dropping off Emira in front of the primary school the other morning. “I told my daughter, ‘You don’t say anything. When you’re asked a question in class, you say nothing.’”
Expand image captioned Ms. Yildirim getting ready to accompany Emira to school.
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Credit...Andrea Mantovani for The New York Times
Norimitsu Onishi reported from Albertville, and Constant Méheut from Paris.
