Nearly a month after the clashes near the Joliot-Curie high school in Nanterre (Hauts-de-Seine), four young people filed a complaint for police violence during the scuffles, their lawyer said, which the prosecution confirmed.
These complaints were filed last Friday, Monday and Thursday, with the General Inspectorate of the National Police (IGPN), the police force.
"Initial investigations are underway," said the Nanterre prosecutor's office.
For the lawyer of the four young people, Me Arié Alimi, “any violence committed against minors must be the subject of criminal proceedings”.
“It is time for the Ministry of the Interior to call its staff to order,” he insisted.
Around 30 people were arrested during the weeks of October 10 and 17 during clashes between police and young people near the Joliot-Curie high school, which has around 1,700 students.
The vast majority of them were minors, including many students educated at Joliot-Curie.
Students say they saw 'boys being beaten to the ground by police officers'
On October 10, high school students had blocked their high school, thus starting a protest movement with varied demands: mainly against the end of the homework assistance system, but also against the framework for applying the principle of secularism and in support of a trade unionist teacher who was transferred against his will to an establishment in Yvelines last September.
The next day, clashes broke out between young people and police, the latter having been targeted by fireworks and projectiles.
A few days later, on October 14, the rectorate of Versailles had indicated that it had agreed to strengthen homework assistance.
On October 17, students in front of the Joliot-Curie high school had notably claimed to have seen “boys being beaten to the ground by the police”.
The clashes, which had continued sporadically the week of October 17, had made the government react.
The Minister of National Education Pap Ndiaye had thus declared on October 16 on RTL that it was important “to find a situation of calm” in this high school, “which has had difficulties for many years”.