Canada

Photo: The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

Adam Boutlidja, left, a student at Cavelier-De LaSalle High School plays the guitar alongside fellow students outside the school Thursday, June 14, 2012 , in Montreal, to support of a teacher that has been suspended by the school for showing high-school students the infamous video that shows a killing allegedly committed by Luka Rocco Magnotta. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes

A Montreal high school teacher has been fired for showing a Grade 10 class what is believed to be the video of the infamous body-parts killing.

The school board issued a statement this afternoon saying the 29-year-old teacher, who was under contract until the end of the school year, has been terminated, effective immediately.

The teacher at Cavelier-De LaSalle High School showed the video on June 4, apparently at the urging of students in his history-and-civics class.

The video, posted on the Internet, allegedly depicts Luka Rocco Magnotta killing Concordia University student Jun Lin; its contents are so disturbing that even veteran police investigators have been rattled while viewing it.

The teacher has been suspended with pay since the viewing. In a decision made public today, the board says it took a number of factors into account including the seriousness of the gesture and the impact on the students involved.

Many students had defended the popular young teacher. Earlier today, several held a rally around lunchtime. The student body has created a petition calling for his reinstatement.