“We burned down the entire school”: young people start a fire near Lyon and film themselves

Two classrooms completely destroyed, considerable damage and a school unusable for the end of the school year. In Meyzieu, in the metropolis of Lyon, two minors were arrested after the fire in a school group which occurred on Wednesday June 19, 2024 around 6:30 p.m.

The two suspects in this arson filmed their misdeed and published the video on social networks. In the middle of the legislative campaign, the drama becomes political with reactions from candidates.

“I admire what’s happening, I admire the fire”

In videos posted online on social networks, notably Snapchat, then widely relayed on X (which we do not publish in our article), we see the two minors filming themselves entering the Marcel-Pagnol school. One of the suspects uses a pitchfork to knock out a window.

In a succession of 6-minute images, one of the teenagers is filmed trying to setting fire to equipment in a classroom. The young man filming then turns the phone towards him. His face is masked and hidden with a scarf, sunglasses and a cap. He says “I admire what’s happening, I admire the fire”.

Fire and ransacking at the school

Then there was a succession of damage to the school group: new fires, a broken oven door, a ball game in the corridors, overturned shelves, ransacked computers, etc.

“There’s smoke everywhere!” I can’t breathe anymore. Wesh, we can’t see anything at all anymore (…),” says one of the young people with a lighter and a bottle of flammable product in hand.

“There is a pelo, he called the firefighters,” worries one of the participants.

Young people flee

At the end of the video, the two minors exit the burning school and distance themselves. They continue to film from a residential area while an increasingly dense column of smoke escapes from the building.

“We burned the whole school,” adds one of the alleged arsonists, expressing concern to see the police arrive on the scene and “smell the burntness.” “There are only the Deks (police officers in Lyon verdant). It’s not even the fire department, he called the Deks that son of a bitch.”

“Wow, how it burns,” exclaims one of the two young people who are observing the disaster from a few hundred meters away.

The matter becomes political

“I went there to see the damage. I am speechless at the devastation caused by this fire. The City condemns this act and acts with the firefighters and the police,” declared the LR mayor of Meyzieu, Christophe Quiniou.

In the middle of the legislative campaign, the National Rally candidate in the constituency took up the matter. “It’s time to stop these delinquents who act with impunity and ruin our lives,” responded Tiffany Joncour, filming herself in front of the burned school.

A reaction which made Issam Benzeghiba, elected environmentalist of the Metropolis of Lyon, jump. “After having firmly condemned the odious, abject and irresponsible acts of these two young people who must be punished severely, I condemn the indecent political recovery of Tiffany Joncour which fuels hatred and undermines our Republican pact,” wrote the elected official on x.

Investigation opened by the prosecution

The Lyon public prosecutor’s office opened an investigation for “deliberate damage by fire”, two minors were arrested and placed in police custody by the Rhône DIPN.

The 240 students at Marcel-Pagnol primary school will be able to finish their school year. The Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Region announced in its press release that “the new Colonel-Arnaud-Beltrame high school inaugurated in September 2023” will be requisitioned to accommodate them until the school holidays.

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