This Monday, the surroundings of the Joliot-Curie high school in Nanterre (Hauts-de-Seine) were the scene of new incidents.
Around 9 a.m., while many students were waiting in front of the establishment, the atmosphere suddenly became tense.
Tear gas was launched and clashes occurred between the police and the young people present, not necessarily all students of the establishment.
Le Figaro
attended an arrest.
The situation then calmed down.
At the end of the morning, the police are numerous around the school, while students are gathered in small groups here and there.
Already, the past week had been marked by scuffles.
Monday, October 10, students organized a blockade, which degenerated the next day into clashes with the police.
14 young people, some of whom are not students at Joliot-Curie, were placed in police custody.
Three of them will be tried at the end of the year before the juvenile court for "
aggravated violence
".
The tension did not weaken and on Thursday, two other young people were in turn arrested.
The establishment was finally closed on Friday.
The current incidents are only the latest revealing signs of the deleterious climate that has prevailed in this school for many months.
In the first half of 2022, the rectorate of Versailles asks the General Inspectorate of Education,
carry out an inventory
” of the situation of the Joliot-Curie high school in Nanterre, due to “
multiple and old dysfunctions
”.
Following the Igesr report, various measures are being put in place for the start of the 2022 school year. The rectorate also decides to transfer four teachers “
in the interest of the service
”.
Among them, Kai Terada, mathematics teacher at Joliot-Curie high school for many years and active activist of SUD-Education.
The transfer of the latter does not pass, neither with his colleagues from Joliot-Curie, nor with the unions, which are mobilizing strongly.
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On October 10, the students enter the dance.
If their movement "
demonstrates unfailing support for Tai Kerada
", their main demands are elsewhere: "
return of homework assistance
" and "
immediate end to the authoritarian excesses of the management
", according to a leaflet distributed by the Council of high school life.
The rectorate of Versailles, for its part, also evokes the "
support
" of the pupils for the teacher, but also "
concerns about the organization of the high school, the methods of evaluation of the baccalaureate, help with homework, the organization pedagogical as well as the rules of procedure and the framework for applying the principle of secularism
".
This last reason has caused a lot of ink to flow.
Did the students' demands concern the wearing of religious clothing, in particular abayas and qamis?
No mention going in this direction is registered on the leaflets of the high school students.
Some students and teachers also denounce an "
instrumentalization
".
But on the spot, the students interviewed by
Le Figaro
evoke this subject without hesitation.
"
Girls started to wear loose outfits and they weren't allowed
," slips Camille, a first-grade student.
“
There was an altercation between a teacher and a student who came in an abaya.
Everyone was shocked.
That's kinda how the blockade started too
“, underlines Fatima, a final year student, who assures us that she has already been asked to return home because of her long coat.
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According to a note from the Intelligence Directorate of the Prefecture of Police (DRPP) revealed by
L'Express
, secularism is indeed a hot topic in the establishment.
The 2021-2022 school year had "
already been marked by tensions in terms of the application of the principles of secularism within the high school
", underlines the DRPP, which adds that at the start of the 2022-2023 school year, at twice, young girls "
tried to enter the school wearing an abaya
".
On Sunday, during the RTL–LCI– Le Figaro
Grand Jury
, Minister Pap Ndiaye was specifically questioned on this issue.
He referred to a "
series of malfunctions, including the wearing of religious attire
".
"
The law must be applied in this establishment as elsewhere.
Possibly impose sanctions, but first dialogue with students and families.
There is no reason to be more flexible or more tolerant in this school than in any establishment
, ”insisted the tenant of the rue de Grenelle.
