Racially Charged Violence Engulfs Schools in Parisian Suburb

Over 50 students were arrested this week following a race riot at a high school in a Paris suburb.

On Tuesday, roughly 100 students — some of whom were masked, while others were armed with iron bars — rampaged through the Lycée Suger in Saint-Denis, Seine-Saint-Denis, north of city center.

“We have reached a new level of violence”

“We were really scared. I have never seen such a level of aggression,” a teacher told The Times (of London) on condition of anonymity. “There were small groups moving around the school and trying to set fire to different places. It was quite difficult to contain them.”

Education Minister Najat Vallaud-Belkacem said the school riot represents a new phase of escalation in the social unrest that has been eating away at France for years.

“A dam seems to have burst with the introduction of violence inside schools,” Vallaud-Belkacem said. “These are very serious acts.” Of the 55 students taken into custody, 44 were under the age of 16.

The demonstration began as a protest against police brutality, the latest to come from the “Justice for Theo” movement that began after a 22-year-old black youth worker was injured during the course of an arrest.

Protesters initially attempted to prevent fellow pupils from attending classes, but the demonstration quickly descended into a full riot THAT left teachers barricaded in their classrooms and fearing for their lives.

The students set fire to trash cans and furniture, and set off smoke bombs and minor explosive devic­es. One of the students reportedly doused a stairwell in gasoline and set fire to it. Local authorities estimated that the cost of the damage done by the riotous students could cost more than $74,000 (€70,000) to repair.

Philippe Tournier, general secretary of France’s main teachers’ union, said it was the first time French schools had suffered such violence, and warned that the situation could turn deadly if not soon contained.

“We have reached a new level of violence,” Tournier said. “If things carry on this way it will end up [with someone dying]. Ten years ago, we did not see scenes of this nature,” he said.

Marine Le Pen, leader of the right-wing populist Front National, criticized the government’s response and called for the restoration of order in the Parisian suburbs.

“As usual, the government was satisfied with a minimal response,” said Le Pen in an official statement. “The prime minister is probably too busy campaigning against my candidacy to worry about what is happening in the country!” While the incident occurred on Tuesday morning, authorities didn’t make it public until Wednesday.

“It is not tolerable that thugs threaten the future of our country and put teachers and pupils at risk,” Le Pen continued. “It is not tolerable that whole districts are subject to the savagery of bands which impose their chaos on it,” she said.

In response to Le Pen’s statement. French Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve accused the increasingly popular presidential contender of trying to “provoke and stoke disorder.”

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Saint-Denis — the location of the school — is home to a large immigrant population, especially from North Africa, and is a known hotbed of anti-Western radicalism. It is the location of the Stade de France, which was attacked by Islamic terrorists during the November 2015 Paris attacks. It is also where the mastermind of those attacks — Abdelhamid Abaaoud — fled, and where he and two accomplices were killed in a raid by French anti-terror forces.

“We must restore the republican order and reconquer the lost territories of the Republic,” said Le Pen. “It is only by strong measures and applied without weakness that the Republic will again be respected everywhere.”