Two 16-year-old students indicted in the investigation into the fire at the Mandela high school in Nantes, on the sidelines of a blockade in early October

They are suspected of being involved in the fire in the hall at the Nelson-Mandela high school, in Nantes (Loire-Atlantique) on October 1. Two suspects aged 16, students at the establishment, were indicted on Thursday evening, the prosecution announced on Friday November 6, confirming information from Ouest-France.

One of the two high school students was placed under judicial supervision by the judge of freedoms and detention, while the other was placed in a closed educational center, further confirmed the prosecution, which will appeal this decision and had requested that he also be placed in detention.

Three high school students were arrested on Tuesday, but the custody of the third was lifted because his involvement could not be established. The two minors indicted admitted "part of the materiality of the facts", said the prosecutor, Antoine Leroy, on Thursday. They had been placed in police custody in particular for "organized gang destruction of the property of others by means dangerous to people", acts punishable by a sentence of 20 years in prison.

Repairs estimated at 4 million euros

The hall of the establishment had been completely destroyed by this fire, on the sidelines of a blockage, a disaster became one of the symbols of the first excesses observed on the sidelines of the high school movement.

Around 7 a.m., "several young people in hoods" had placed "trash cans and urban equipment in front of the front door of the high school, [set] them on fire, some of them with aerosols projecting flames", the prosecutor reported on Thursday. Fireworks mortar shots also targeted the establishment. The fire that broke out spread to the roof, "breaking the windows and damaging the photovoltaic panels, the refectory, as well as some rooms in the boarding school", where there were students and classrooms at the time.