Two youths were arrested this Thursday, October 13, after a fresh brawl between high school students and police near Joliot-Curie high school in Nanterre, a police source told AFP.
There were renewed moments of tension around the school in the morning, according to the Versailles Academy, which said the facility has since been locked down and will reopen on Friday.
“We don’t get there if they don’t attack us.” This Wednesday excused Emmanuel Kemener, regional secretary of the Aux de Seine police union, after violent clashes on Tuesday between the police and youths, all of whom are not registered in this institution. Ending a siege that began on Monday, police said they were targeted by mortars and shells, prompting them to respond with tear gas and gunfire. Two policemen were injured, one had to be taken to the hospital.
Police arrested fourteen youths for “participation in a masked armed mob”, “contempt” and “willful violence with a weapon during a meeting against a public authority”, the Nanterre prosecutor’s office said. Three of them will be summoned to the juvenile court on December 1 to be tried. The parents of the arrested youths were still in front of the Nanter police station in the afternoon. The situation in front of the school has calmed down, despite some tension in the morning due to a police cordon that allowed high school students to enter the facility. Mediators from the city of Nanterre have been on the ground since Monday to put people’s minds at ease.
The blockade comes amid fed-up high school students blaming their leadership “Not respecting students enough.” according to one of them. They specifically mention the funds allocated to help with homework, which fell, and the transfer of the mathematics teacher, which was decided by the rectory of Versailles. Restrictions on the outfits allowed at the school are also part of the sling, the rectory insists “Scope of application of the principle worldliness“. “It has nothing to do with Islam.A 15-year-old boy defends himself. We want to respect the principle of secularism, but we also want everyone to be able to dress the way they want, regardless of religion.
The youths planned to resume their siege
Joliot-Curie High School was already the scene of a teacher strike in early September to decry the transfer of a teacher registered with the SUD-education union. “It is very similar to repression of trade unions.” CGT and Snes-FSU, the two trade unions present at the school, wrote in a joint press release. For its part, the Rectory of Versailles justified this change with desire “to create new conditions for the restoration of a peaceful climate essential to the well-being of staff and students”. He elaborates that this facility is “marked by malfunctions that require the implementation of auxiliary measures.”
Young people who want to be heard have planned to resume their blockade. “But we are going to do it peacefully, we want to calm the situation.” assures the high school student.*
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Source: Le Figaro
