French police raid houses with terror links after Paris beheading

Interior minister Gerald Damanin said the government wanted to send a message to extremists

French President Emmanuel Macron, flanked by French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin, speaks to the press in front of a middle school in Conflans Saint-Honorine. AFP, Pool

Teachers carrying a sign that reads 'I am a Teacher' lays flowers in front of Bois d'Aulne middle school to pay their respect after a teacher was assassinated in Conflans Sainte-Honorine. EPA

French CRS police officers stand as adults and children gather in front of flowers displayed at the entrance of a middle school in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, 30kms northwest of Paris, on October 17, 2020, after a teacher was decapitated by an attacker who has been shot dead by policemen. The man suspected of beheading on October 16 ,2020 a French teacher who had shown his students cartoons of the prophet Mohammed was an 18-year-old born in Moscow and originating from Russia's southern region of Chechnya, a judicial source said on October 17. Five more people have been detained over the murder on October 16 ,2020 outside Paris, including the parents of a child at the school where the teacher was working, bringing to nine the total number currently under arrest, said the source, who asked not to be named. The attack happened at around 5 pm (1500 GMT) near a school in Conflans Saint-Honorine, a western suburb of the French capital. The man who was decapitated was a history teacher who had recently shown caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed in class. / AFP / Bertrand GUAY

Teachers and the public lay flowers in front of Bois d'Aulne middle school to pay their respect after a teacher was assassinated in Conflans Sainte-Honorine. AP

Teachers and the public lay flowers in front of Bois d'Aulne middle school to pay their respect after a teacher was assassinated in Conflans Sainte-Honorine. AP

Teachers and the public lay flowers in front of Bois d'Aulne middle school to pay their respect after a teacher was assassinated in Conflans Sainte-Honorine. AP

French police officers stand outside a high school after a history teacher who opened a discussion with students on caricatures of Islam's Prophet Muhammad was beheaded. AP

French police officers stand outside a high school after a history teacher who opened a discussion with students on caricatures of Islam's Prophet Muhammad was beheaded. Getty Images

French Education, Youth and Sports Minister Jean-Michel Blanquer speaks to medias in Paris after a teacher was decapitated by an attacker who has been shot dead by policemen. AFP

People hold a sign reading 'I am a teacher - Freedom of speech' in front of a middle school in Conflans Saint-Honorine, 30kms northwest of Paris, on October 17, 2020, after a teacher was decapitated by an attacker who has been shot dead by policemen. The man suspected of beheading on October 16 ,2020 a French teacher who had shown his students cartoons of the prophet Mohammed was an 18-year-old born in Moscow and originating from Russia's southern region of Chechnya, a judicial source said on October 17. Five more people have been detained over the murder on October 16 ,2020 outside Paris, including the parents of a child at the school where the teacher was working, bringing to nine the total number currently under arrest, said the source, who asked not to be named. The attack happened at around 5 pm (1500 GMT) near a school in Conflans Saint-Honorine, a western suburb of the French capital. The man who was decapitated was a history teacher who had recently shown caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed in class. / AFP / Bertrand GUAY

French police have raided a series of homes suspected of housing people with links to extremist networks as authorities vowed to clamp down on radicals.

Days after a teacher who had shown pupils a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed was beheaded in Paris, dozens of individuals were being targeted, interior minister Gerald Darmanin said, while charities and NGOs with alleged  extremist ties will also be probed.

While the raids were "not necessarily linked" to last week’s killing, the government wanted to send a message that there would be "not a minute's respite for enemies of the Republic,” Mr Darmanin said.

"Fear is about to change sides," President Emmanuel Macron told a meeting of key ministers on Sunday to discuss a response to the attack. "Islamists should not be allowed sleep soundly in our country.”

On Sunday, tens of thousands took to the streets for nationwide rallies commemorating the life of 47-year-old history teacher Samuel Paty.

He was attacked on his way home from the junior high school where he taught in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, 40 kilometres (25 miles) north-west of Paris.

A photo of the teacher and a message confessing to his murder was found on the mobile phone of his killer, an 18-year-old Chechen man Abdullakh Anzorov, who was shot dead by police.

Eleven people are being held over the murder, including a known radical and the father of one of Paty's pupils, who had launched an online campaign against the teacher.

The killing has sent shockwaves throughout France and drawn parallels with the 2015 massacre at Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine, where 12 people, including cartoonists, were gunned down for publishing cartoons mocking Prophet Mohammed.