Anger of high school students: Two 16-year-old students indicted for the fire at the Nelson-Mandela high school in Nantes

Indictment for two 16-year-old high school students on Thursday for having caused, on October 1, the partial fire of the Nantes Nelson-Mandela high school, where they were educated, we learned from the prosecution.

The two teenagers were placed under judicial supervision with placement in a closed educational center for one, adds prosecutor Antoine Leroy, confirming information from Ouest-France. The Nantes public prosecutor's office, which requested placement in pre-trial detention for the two high school students, announces an appeal.

Context of the high school blockades

Three teenagers arrested Tuesday and placed in police custody as part of the investigation into this fire. Two were brought before the prosecution on Thursday morning. According to the public prosecutor, Antoine Leroy, the two young people aged 16 admitted “part of the materiality of the facts”.

The school located on the island of Nantes partially caught fire on October 1 on the sidelines of the high school student demands movement. In view of "the extreme seriousness of the facts", the "very organized preparation of the means implemented" to "voluntarily set fire to the high school" and "the probative elements gathered by the investigators attesting to their presence on the scene" the two accused "will be referred to the Nantes public prosecutor's office" in the morning, specified the prosecutor. They will then be presented to an investigating judge.

A resumption of classes on November 16

The custody of the third teenager, also 16 years old, was lifted on Wednesday afternoon. The prosecution specifies that other individuals who also “participated in the facts remain to be arrested”.