Student, 14, stabs to death assistant at French school

NOGENT, France - French President Emmanuel Macron on June 10 condemned a “senseless wave of violence” after a 14-year-old student fatally stabbed a teaching assistant, the latest deadly incident at a school in the country.

The secondary school student was arrested after attacking the 31-year-old assistant with a knife during a bag search in Nogent in eastern France, officials said.

France has in recent years seen a series of attacks on teachers and students by other schoolchildren.

In March, police started random searches for knives and other weapons concealed in bags at and around schools.

The assistant at the Francoise Dolto school in Nogent was stabbed several times shortly before 8am (2pm Singapore time), “as pupils were arriving for a visual inspection of their bags in the presence of the police”, education officials said.

The suspect was taken into custody.

Emergency vehicles and police cars were parked outside the school at midday.

Students were sent home and classes were suspended for June 10 and 11.

Ms Nora, a local who knew the victim, said she was “very sad” for the woman’s husband and young son.

“Today it happened in Nogent, but it could happen anywhere,” she told AFP.

The alleged attacker was restrained by police officers present, said prosecutor Denis Devallois.

One officer was slightly injured, he added.

“While protecting our children, a teaching assistant lost her life, the victim of a senseless wave of violence,” Mr Macron wrote on X.

“The nation is in mourning and the government is mobilised to reduce crime,” he added.

Prime Minister Francois Bayrou said the threat of knives among children had become “critical”.

“It is our responsibility to make this widespread scourge a public enemy,” he said on X.

Education Minister Elisabeth Borne travelled to Nogent to express her support.

“I commend the composure and dedication of those who acted to subdue the attacker and protect the students and staff,” she said on X.

‘Simply doing her job’

In May, the deputy speaker of the French Parliament, Ms Naima Moutchou, said that carrying knives had become “a phenomenon” affecting “all areas” and people from all walks of life.

She presented Mr Bayrou with a report on the possession of knives by minors.

Students who carried knives included young people who wanted to “defend themselves” and those who were “psychologically fragile”, she said.

Ms Sophie Venetitay, general secretary of the leading middle and high school teachers’ union SNES-FSU, voiced “anger at the thought that a teaching assistant was exposed in this way”.

“Teaching assistants have an educational role and are not security guards outside schools,” she said.

The teaching assistant was “simply doing her job by welcoming students at the entrance to the school”, said Ms Elisabeth Allain-Moreno, secretary-general of the SE-UNSA teachers’ union.

She spoke of her “immense pain” at the killing.

“(It) shows that nothing can ever be completely secure and that it is prevention that needs to be focused on.”

Mr Jean-Remi Girard, president of the National Union of Secondary Schools, said: “It’s impossible to be more vigilant 24 hours a day.

“We can’t say that every student is a danger or a threat, otherwise we’d never get out of bed in the morning.”

French far-right leader Marine Le Pen denounced what she called the “normalisation of extreme violence, encouraged by the apathy of the authorities”.

“Not a week goes by without a tragedy striking a school,” Ms Le Pen said on X.

“The French people have had enough and are waiting for a firm, uncompromising and determined political response to the scourge of juvenile violence.”

The Interior Ministry said on June 10 that between March 26 and May 26, 6,000 checks led to the seizure of 186 knives. AFP