High school philosophy teacher Didier Lemaire told French media he began to receive threats after he wrote an open letter saying the state did not do enough to protect Samuel Paty, the teacher beheaded in an Islamist attack last October.
Trappes, to the south-west of Paris, is a low-income suburb with a large Muslim population that has become emblematic of the government's efforts to curb radicalism.
Authorities say hardline Salafist conservatism has attracted a widespread following in the town, with around 50 Trappes locals reportedly leaving to fight alongside jihadists in Iraq and Syria .
"We have been alerted to the worries expressed by this teacher with regards to threats he allegedly received," the prosecutor's office in nearby Versailles told AFP, without providing details.
A police source confirmed that Lemaire was under police protection.
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"In accordance with his wishes, the school district, in cooperation with the police, will ensure conditions that will allow him to continue teaching," the Versailles board of education said in a statement.
Samuel Paty's killing came as France remains on high alert after a series of terror attacks since the January 2015 massacre at the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, which had published controversial cartoons of the prophet Mohammed.
Paty had shown cartoons in class as the trial began for suspected accomplices in the attack, angering parents who targeted him in a social media campaign that sparked his killing by an 18-year-old Chechen man.
Writing a few weeks later in the news magazine Le Point, Lemaire wrote: "I have been a witness to the sectarianism that is taking an increased hold on people's bodies and minds."
Paty "was not protected by the state, which underestimated the threat", he added.
(AFP)
