Toulouse: the Minister of Education Jean-Michel Blanquer paid tribute to the victims of terrorism this morning
Jean-Michel Blanquer, Minister of Education, paid tribute to the victims of terrorism on Friday March 11 in Toulouse, at the Square de Gaulle. He was accompanied by Roxana Maracineanu, Minister Delegate for Sports, on the occasion of a trip on the theme of sports at school.
The ceremony of national tribute to the victims of terrorism, set for March 11 at European level since the attacks in Madrid in 2004, coincides with the anniversary of the first attack perpetrated by Merah in Toulouse, March 11, 2012: that of the leader Imad Ibn Ziaten. It’s been 10 years this year since the “scooter killer” carried out his macabre work.
“We wanted to say how important this commemoration is, here in Toulouse”
This Friday at the Square de Gaulle, in Toulouse, it was the Minister of National Education, Jean-Michel Blanquer, who paid this tribute, with a speech of about twenty minutes. The City of Toulouse, the Department, the Region, the State, elected officials, military authorities, families of victims, associations were also present at this moving ceremony. “On this day, our nation honors the victims of terrible, blind, inhuman violence. Acts that take place in many cities, including Toulouse, and which have hatred in common. The hatred of a republican country that respects life, and the hatred of all. We wanted to tell you how important this commemoration is, and how important being in Toulouse is today”, underlined the minister.
Imad Ibn Ziaten, Jonathan, Arié and Gabriel Sandler, Myriam Monsonego, Bernard Maris, Anne-Laure Arruebo, Myriam Dessaivre…
Jean-Michel Blanquer had thoughts “for the dead, for the injured, for the living, those who have to live with the pain of having lost loved ones”. “All of us identify with these broken lives.” The minister quoted Jorge Semprun, “you have to convince yourself that life is still liveable”. Jean-Michel Blanquer cited the assassination of Imad Ibn Ziaten, “he was 30”, but also the victims of the Ohr Torah school, those of Carcassonne and Trèbes in 2018 or even Samuel Paty, “in the heart of the ‘school’.
Flowers were also laid in memory of Toulouse residents Bernard Maris, who died in the Charlie Hebdo attack in January 2015, Anne-Laure Arruebo, who died in the Bataclan attack on November 13, 2015, and Myriam Dessaivre, a humanitarian who died in Niger. in 2020. “We will not forget them, we will not forget their faces, their shattered lives. We will retrace their lives, and terrorism will not emerge victorious”, declared the minister.