French principal receives death threats for telling student to remove hijab

A school principal in France resigned from his position after receiving death threats following an argument he had with a Muslim girl over the removal of her headscarf, as required by law. His resignation caused a great uproar in the country, where Islamist threats to educational institutions have already led to the murder of two teachers in recent years.

French Prime Minister Gabriel Attel said the country would sue the girl for lying and claiming the principal attacked her during the argument, which led to threats against him on social media.

"I have finally made the decision to resign from my position due to concerns for my safety and that of this institution," the principal wrote in an email he sent last Friday to his colleagues at the Maurice Ravel high school in the 20th arrondissement of Paris. The teacher's name has not been disclosed to the public for protection.

"I'm leaving after seven years, rich and intense, that I spent by your side and after 45 years in public education," added the principal, who thanked his colleagues for the support they showed him over the last three weeks.

The incident occurred on February 28, when the principal told three female students to obey the law and remove their head coverings. Two of them complied with his instructions, but the third did not. In the following days, the principal received death threats on social media, which the school forwarded to the Interior Ministry's hotline.

The authorities arrested two suspects in connection with the threats. Their identities remain undisclosed, but the Education Ministry said they are unaffiliated with the school. Due to concerns about violence from extremist elements, the police began patrolling around the educational institution, and the Education Minister, Nicole Belloubet, visited it.

Police discovered no evidence of attack

The police found no evidence that the principal attacked the girl, and the Prime Minister promised that she would stand trial for false accusations.

"The state will always stand by these public figures, those who are at the forefront of the fight against such assaults on secularism, against attempts by Islamism to infiltrate our educational institutions," said Attal, who led the ban on the wearing of the burqa in educational institutions while serving as Education Minister last year.

The incident was condemned by politicians from the right and the left, a few months before the European Parliament elections, in which the issue of immigration will be a primary focus.

"This government is not capable of protecting our schools," Marine Le Pen, leader of the far-right "National Union" party, wrote on X. Her niece, Marion Maréchal, a member of a rival far-right party, said, "This is a defeat for the country, and the Islamist agenda continues to spread."

"This is where you end up when your policy is 'not to stir up a storm'. This is where all these small concessions lead," said Bruno Retailleau, from the center-right "Republicans" party.

"This is unacceptable. When a manager resigns because of threats to his life, it is a collective failure," said Boris Vallaud from the Socialist Party.

Meanwhile, several schools in Paris closed their gates Wednesday after receiving bomb threats allegedly from Islamist elements. French authorities have not ruled out that these are part of a Russian disinformation campaign. Last week, about 30 other schools in the Paris area received similar threats, accompanied by a video of a beheading, recalling the murder of teacher Samuel Paty in a Paris suburb in 2020.

Prime Minister Attal warned in early March that the Kremlin had begun a "massive operation to destabilize" France to erode its support for Ukraine.