Dozens of gendarmes were deployed this Thursday morning around the Aturri college in Saint-Pierre d'Irube, near Bayonne.
In question: a "possible intrusion", according to the prefecture of Pyrénées-Atlantiques which gives no details.
The Special Safety Plan (PPMS) has been triggered and "children are confined in the establishment and safe", according to a press release.
An "intervention of the security services is underway in the establishment" and the "services of the departmental gendarmerie group (GGD) of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques are on site", adds the prefecture.
A security perimeter was established this morning around the establishment.
🔴 [Security alert]
A
security
perimeter was established this morning around the Aturri college in Saint-Pierre d'Irube as part of a police operation.
⚠ Please stay away from this security perimeter so as not to disrupt operations.
- Prefect of Pyrénées-Atlantiques (@ Prefet64) October 21, 2021
At 11:00 am, the gendarmerie services "remove the doubt, without difficulty at this stage", according to the same source.
The gendarmes were in the middle of the day inside the establishment to carry out searches.
According to an AFP correspondent on the spot, the gendarmes helped by police officers blocked the access roads to the college, whose surroundings are quiet.
Parents of students, distraught, who come to the news, were referred to the telephone number set up by the prefecture - 05 59 82 22 01 - which also asked the families "not to go there in order to to avoid any obstruction for the security services ”.