Beaten boy dies as Macron warns of youth violence

Tensions high in schools after threats of attacks sent to dozens of educational establishments

A French boy died from wounds sustained in a violent assault, as President Emmanuel Macron warned that schools should be protected from “uninhibited violence” among some youths.

The 15-year-old was badly beaten on Thursday near his school in a town south of Paris and rushed to hospital following a cardiac arrest. He died of his wounds on Friday afternoon.

Police detained five people linked to the attack, including three 17-year-olds, a 15-year-old and a 20-year-old.

It was the second such assault in a week – a 13-year-old girl was left temporarily comatose after being attacked outside her school in the city of Montpellier on Tuesday. Both incidents come at a time of heightened tensions around schools, after threats of attacks were sent to dozens of educational establishments via an internal messaging system.

“We have a form of uninhibited violence among our teenagers and sometimes among increasingly younger ones,” Macron said before the teenager died, as he visited a primary school in Paris.

“Schools need to be shielded from this,” he said, adding they should “remain a sanctuary for our children, for their families, for our teachers”.

In the latest beating, three people wearing balaclavas attacked the 15-year-old as he left school in a low-income district of Viry-Chatillon, a town around 20km south of Paris. The boy suffered cardiorespiratory arrest, according to a police source.

Jean-Marie Vilain, the mayor of Viry-Chatillon, said the boy was walking home after a music class when he was set upon by “the worst kind of thugs”.

“This extreme violence is becoming commonplace,” he added. Government spokeswoman Prisca Thevenot denounced the “barbaric crime”.

Outside the school on Friday morning, before the boy died, fellow students said they were shocked he was attacked. The boy, identified as Shamseddine, “got on well with everyone”, said one female pupil who asked to remain anonymous.

Clutching a football under his arm, 12-year-old Matheo, another student, said he was scared the attackers would come back.

Prosecutors said the girl attacked in Montpellier, identified as Samara, had emerged from a coma but was “seriously injured”.

Three alleged attackers have been charged with attempted murder and detained. They include a 14-year-old girl from the same school in the city’s lowincome area of La Mosson-La Paillade, and two boys aged 14 and 15 educated elsewhere.

“Each of them admits to having hit the victim,” prosecutor Fabrice Belargent said, adding the oldest of the three would remain in temporary detention.

“It seems the assault came in the context of a group of teenagers who were used to insulting each other on social media,” Belargent said. He made no reference to religion as a factor.

Samara’s mother had told media her daughter had been bullied by a fellow pupil, raising the possibility this could have been over her behaviour and clothing deemed un-Islamic. But fellow pupils said a girl who took part in the assault had accused Samara of posting a picture of her with an insult on social media.

The rector of the Grand Mosque in Paris, Chems-eddine Hafiz, condemned what he called an “inexcusable assault” on the teenage girl, but warned against the incident being politicised.

“While some persist in incriminating Islam, let us focus on constructive solutions to fight bullying,” he said.

Schools need to … remain a sanctuary for our children, for their families, for our teachers PRESIDENT EMMANUEL MACRON