Clashes broke out on Tuesday March 5 in front of the Cachan polytechnic high school (Val-de-Marne), for a reason which remained unclear in the afternoon.

According to the rectorate, shortly before the start of classes, at 8 a.m., “hooded individuals, around twenty, set trash cans on fire” near the high school. In the morning, a police source told Agence France-Presse (AFP) about the presence of 200 people gathered when the police arrived shortly after.

Cars were damaged and projectiles were thrown at the police, the same source explained. The facade of the establishment was also blackened by the flames. A 17-year-old person was arrested following these incidents, announced the Créteil public prosecutor’s office.

“Our children saw small groups, coming in hoods to block the entrances to the school with trash cans and sow panic by throwing projectiles at the firefighters,” Diane Merlin, president of the office of the parents’ federation, explained to AFP. high school FCPE students. “The students arrived to go to class, not for the crowd,” clarified the rectorate, according to which the classes, which had continued in the morning for the students who managed to enter the establishment, have completely resumed at the mid-day.

Announcing that damage had been committed to “the high school, street furniture and in particular to two municipal vehicles”, the socialist mayor of Cachan, Hélène de Comarmond, announced in a press release that “the city will file a complaint for the degradations which concern it”. Valérie Pécresse, the president of the Ile-de-France region who has authority over Ile-de-France high schools, denounced on X “the violence in front of the Cachan high school and the damage that was committed”. The region will also file a complaint, she announced, and a regional security brigade – mobile patrols of five agents that it has established – “will be deployed to restore serenity to the site”.

Water leaks in the high school

At the end of February, 90 teachers and members of the educational community had exercised their right of withdrawal to request renovations to this high school of more than 2,000 students. Teachers complained of water leaks in classrooms and rain in some corridors.

The High School Union assured Tuesday morning that the day’s mobilization was also linked to “the unsanitary conditions of the establishment.” “After a large mobilization of teachers, it is the turn of high school students to impose the renovation of the buildings,” wrote the organization on its X account. A version that the rectorate contests. “At no time was there any mobilization of students,” he maintains to Le Monde, believing that “it is too early to make the link with the teachers’ demonstration last week.”

For Ms. Merlin, of the FCPE, the “thugs” of this Tuesday morning “came without any demands”. “We condemn the riots taking place this morning [Tuesday] in front of our high school,” she insisted. For her part, Ms. de Comarmond calls in her press release for “peaceful exchanges (…) and without delay with the Ile-de-France region, responsible for the high school premises”, considering “that it is essential to urgently trigger work within the establishment and to initiate its overall renovation project”.

Updated at 3:30 p.m.: Update of the article after clarifications provided by the rectorate.