2023-10-19 08:57:04
From 7:30 a.m. this Thursday morning, Roger, 67, waited in front of Arras Cathedral. He came to the funeral, scheduled for 10 a.m., of Dominique Bernard, a French teacher who was a victim of hatred, killed in front of his college in the city of Pas-de-Calais while trying to block the path of a young terrorist.
“Monsieur Bernard”, Roger the retiree did not know him personally, he never spoke to him. “But I recognized his face when I saw it in the newspapers. From time to time he had his coffee at Jean-Bart near the church, a café where I am a customer. His death hurts for me, for Arras, for everyone in France,” he confides. In front of the place of worship under very high protection from the police, the security barrier was set up while it was still dark. Roger won’t be able to get in there.
Access to the building is reserved for the family of the deceased, relatives, friends, colleagues, students of the late associate professor of modern literature. You must be included on a list to cross security barriers. The religious ceremony will be presided over by Mgr Olivier Leborgne, Bishop of Arras. The prelate, an unwilling priest of national tragedies, celebrated last October 24 in the department the funeral of Lola, a 12-year-old girl victim of a savage murder in Paris which, too, had shocked an entire country.
The President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron and his wife, a former French teacher, will take part in the funeral. Gérald Darmanin, Minister of the Interior, and Gabriel Attal, Minister of National Education, will also be present. In the cathedral, hundreds of chairs are lined up. A portrait of Dominique Bernard was displayed. He appears in hiker’s Bermuda shorts, a bag on his back, a tourist guide to Brittany in his hand, his arm resting on a statue. A photo taken during a recent vacation in Nantes.
Buried in his village
The general public (like journalists), who are not allowed to enter the cathedral, will still be able to honor the memory of Dominique Bernard and gather outside according to their wishes. of the family touched “by the thousands of signs of support”. The service will be broadcast live on a giant screen, not far from the building, on the Place des Héros at the foot of the belfry. An imposing security system must be deployed with bag searches and rigorous pat-downs at the entrance. The funeral procession must cross this esplanade shortly before the start of the funeral.
At 8:30 a.m. this Thursday morning, a few dozen people were already waiting in front of Arras Cathedral.
At 8 a.m., Pierre, 18, a preparatory literature student, joins the queue to enter the cathedral. The teacher killed was his literature teacher four years ago, when he was in 9th grade. “A teacher who listened, always ready to make jokes and laugh at ours, even the ones that were the most lame,” he recalls. Sarah, 13, in 4th grade, had him as a teacher this year. “French, I don’t like this subject, but he managed to interest me in it. He was a good teacher who encouraged me,” she thanks. His mother Michèle also came. She holds two white roses in her hand.
At the end of the celebration, Dominique Bernard must be buried privately in his village of Berneville, about ten kilometers from Arras.
#Professor #killed #Arras #Macron #guests #giant #screen #funeral #Dominique #Bernard #high #security