A small French town and the betrayal of Samuel Paty

There is a council meeting in the southern French town of Ollioules tomorrow but one item has been removed from the agenda. The mayor, Robert Beneventi, will not now propose renaming the area’s Eucalyptus College after Samuel Paty.

You’ll recall the fate of Monsieur Paty, beheaded just beyond the gates of his Parisian suburb school last October by a young Islamist enraged that the teacher had shown a caricature of the Prophet during a lesson discussing freedom of expression. Paty’s brutal death sparked revulsion around the world – save in Pakistan and Turkey – and in France there was a large rally in Paris.

There were numerous placards proclaiming ‘Je Suis Samuel’ and similar sentiments were widely expressed on social media. At the time I pointed out the empty rhetoric of many of those present. And so it has proved.