France to sue teen for falsely accusing headteacher in scarf row

FRANCE’S Prime Minister, Gabriel Attal has said he would sue a teenage girl for falsely accusing her headteacher of striking her in a heated exchange over her wearing an Islamic headcovering.

The headteacher had insisted that the pupil remove her head- covering inside the school, in accordance with French law.

He resigned after death threats circulated on social media.

The Islamist threat to French schools has been taken extremely serious since the murder of two teachers.

The Paris school headteacher, whose name has not been made public, announced his decision in an email sent to his colleagues at the Maurice Ravel Lycée in the 20th district of Paris.

“I have finally taken the decision to quit my functions out of concern for my own safety and that of the establishment.

“I leave after seven years, rich and intense, spent at your side, and after 45 years in public education,” he said, thanking his colleagues for the support they had shown him over the past three weeks.

In the incident, which took place on February 28, 2024, the teacher told three female pupils they should obey the law by removing their head coverings.

Two complied, but the third did not and there was an altercation.

In the days that followed, the headteacher was the object of death threats on social media, which were signaled by the school to an interior ministry hotline.

Prosecutors said two people had been detained in connection with the death threats. Their identities have not been revealed, but the education ministry said they had no link with the school.

Police were sent to patrol around the school, which also received a visit from Education Minister, Nicole Belloubet.

Officers found no evidence that the headteacher had struck the girl, and now the Prime Minister has stepped in to say she is to be taken to court for making false allegations.

“The state will always stand with these officials, those who are on the frontline faced with these breaches of secularism, these attempts of Islamist entryism in our education establishments,” he said.

Politicians have expressed outrage that the career of a respected teacher should be ended by a hate campaign on the Internet.

“This government is incapable of protecting our schools,” Marine Le Pen of the hard- right National Rally said.”