NAntes — The image of the glass atrium of the Lycée Nelson Mandela on the Île de Nantes, engulfed in flames up to the roof, spread across news outlets within hours. The blaze broke out during a blockade on the morning of Thursday, 1 October, and the regional education authority has described it as a “deliberate fire.” The school will remain closed for at least a month, until the end of the Toussaint school holidays, leaving 1,700 pupils to study from home. Boarders were still inside when the fire took hold. They were rushed home and remain in shock.
“We Were All Just Crying”
Neyla stares at the charred glass roof of her school, cordoned off with police tape. “I was in that room at 8 a.m., the one that burned,” she says. “We were evacuated quickly. We could see the flames and the firefighters up above. We were all just crying,” she adds, pointing to the first floor. The pupil is adamant that those responsible are “anything but us. They’re people who came and decided they were going to smash everything up,” she says with regret.
Boarders Waited for News at the Conservatoire
The boarders were gathered at the conservatoire next to the school, waiting for updates on their phones. “I’m reading it right now. They’re saying the school shouldn’t reopen before the Toussaint holidays,” Neyla learns. Gabin, 16, has nothing but the T-shirt on his back. “I have nothing, basically. I left just like this. I hope we can get our belongings back as soon as possible,” he says. He plays handball in a sports-study programme, as does Mathieu’s son. The father rushed from Le Mans, leaving work to drive several children back home to the Sarthe region.
“It’s catastrophic for the kids who play handball. Distance learning, I think that can be managed. But doing handball remotely, that’s not possible,” he says.
“The group of people who did this, I don’t think they realise the consequences for everyone.”
— Mathieu, father of a pupil at Lycée Nelson Mandela in Nantes
Structural Inspections Underway
Experts will have to determine whether the school’s structure has been affected. The building was constructed barely 12 years ago and cost €64 million.
Most Schools in the Nantes Area Remain Closed
Eleven lycées kept their doors shut on Friday — nearly all public establishments in the metropolitan area. Beyond the spectacular fire at Nelson Mandela, several other schools suffered damage. In almost every case, the work of small masked groups wearing hoods and carrying firework mortars. On Thursday evening, the regional education authority chief, Raphaël Müller, ultimately resigned himself to keeping the establishments closed for pupils’ safety.
“I absolutely condemn these acts of damage in this school and in others. I absolutely condemn the violence. We are facing phenomena of vandals, of unbridled violence. Today, we have reached the point of worrying about the safety of lycée pupils. I turn to families to urge vigilance, to tell their children not to put themselves in danger,” the authority chief said.
He said he did not know how Friday would unfold. Calls to gather are circulating on social media. Police will patrol around the establishments. Even Nantes’ trams and buses will be diverted on Friday in anticipation of possible blockades.
