in Paris, a high school student commits suicide, his classmates' blockade against academic pressure degenerates

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And drama followed by a demonstration which was cut short due to police intervention. Tuesday, December 3, 2024, several dozen high school students, if we are to believe the photos and videos posted on the networks, carried out the blockade two secondary and higher education establishments in the heart of Paris, Victor-Hugo (3e) et Charlemagne (4e).

“Legitimate rage”

The reason for their anger: the “academic pressure” that they say they experience on a daily basis and which was reportedly denounced by a 1st grade student, shortly before he killed himself. In one of the rare photos posted online, young people dressed in black and hooded or masked, most of them camped in front of the school gate. “Legitimate rage” and “The school kills”, we can read in red letters here on a large white sheet, there on a cardboard sign.

“After the tragedy experienced by one of their classmates, the high school students wanted to express their sadness and denounce the academic pressure, which increases year after year,” contextualized the FCPE, in a press release issued on Friday. Except that, “faced with their demands, which all civil society and the authorities should listen to with kindness, the State's response was marked by disproportionate violence», condemns the Federation of Parents' Councils.

“Insults and the presence of LBD”

According to the latter, which takes as proof “videos broadcast on social networks and the numerous stories of students and parents”, the police intervened to put an end to the blockade. “Insults against the students” were said to have been uttered and the presence of “defense ball throwers (LBD)” noted. Result, “10 young people, including minors aged 16, were arrested and placed in custody. police custody. Some even spent the night in detention,” criticizes the FCPE.

When requested, the Paris public prosecutor's office did not find anything regarding the violence, but confirmed police custody, specifying that “6 minors were the subject of summonses as part of a Pirc training course [parcours individualisé réparation citoyenne] ».

“An incomprehensible and unacceptable repression”

“While mental health has been declared a major national cause in 2025, this police repression is incomprehensible in substance and unacceptable in form,” continues the FCPE. It aggravates the situation of young people already weakened by incessant reforms constant academic pressure, and a growing feeling of abandonment by public institutions perceived as mistreating. »

If the FCPE calls for “urgent awareness and the implementation of concrete and adapted actions in the face of the alarming observation of the deterioration of the mental health of our youth”. Suicidal thoughts are on the rise among high school students, more so among girls than boys, and the risk of depression is also increasing among middle school students. This is what emerged, in April 2024, from the National Survey in middle and high schools among adolescents on health and substances (EnCLASS), published by Public Health France.

An audience requested with the Prefect of Police

The FCPE also denounces “the severe lack of trained personnelto collect the words of students in educational establishments (nurses, psychologists, social workers and specialized associations)”.

After having urged the rector of the Paris Academy and the Ministry of National Education to reaffirm “the sanctuarization of all school and university establishments, as well as their surroundings, so that such events do not happen again and, above all, , that no additional tragedy occurs”, the FCPE demands an audience with the Paris Police Prefect, in order to obtain explanations on the conditions of maintaining order on Tuesday December 3″.

Contacted on Saturday, Laurent Nuñez's services did not get back to us.

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