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- He allegedly told student Muslims in Catholic schools are a problem and suggested he change his religion
- 20% of students at Joseph-Wresinski d鈥橝ngers Catholic School are Muslim
LONDON: A teacher at a school in France has been suspended from his job and is being investigated by police following accusations made by a Muslim student of bigotry relating to his religion.
A student at the Joseph-Wresinski d鈥橝ngers Catholic School in the city of Angers lodged a formal complaint with local police, claiming that a teacher said Muslim students are a problem and suggested he 鈥渃hange his religion鈥� during a discussion about French history, the Daily Mail reported. Police have launched an investigation into the student鈥檚 complaint, a local prosecutor said.
The teacher, who has not yet been named, lodged a complaint a day after the student, alleging 鈥減hysical and verbal violence.鈥�
According to the student, the incident began when the teacher digressed during a discussion about Catholic schools of the past.
He allegedly said: 鈥淐atholic schools should have continued to only accept Catholic students.鈥� A student pointed at a Muslim classmate and responded: 鈥淏ut Catholic schools aren鈥檛 just reserved for Catholics.鈥�
According to the Muslim student鈥檚 testimony, the teacher then said 鈥渢hat鈥檚 the problem,鈥� adding: 鈥淲ell, he could always change his religion.鈥�
The student was said to be angry at the teacher鈥檚 response and stormed out of the room while shouting 鈥渞acist.鈥� For this the teacher lodged his complaint, saying the student pushed past him and yelled.
The teacher admitted to 鈥渋nviting Muslims to join us and become Catholic,鈥� but said the remark was intended as humor but 鈥渄id not go down well with the class.鈥�
Anthony B茅lang茅, director of the school, said 20 percent of his students are Muslim, and normally everyone at the school lives together 鈥渧ery peacefully.鈥�
He added: 鈥淐onflicts between staff and students can happen, but the complaints have taken this to a new level.
鈥淭his is quite an emotionally charged situation and I鈥檝e asked the students in the class to write a factual testimony of the events, which will be sent to the investigation team.鈥�
France is home to around 5 million Muslims, the largest such population of any EU member state.