The image of the glass roof of the Nelson Mandela high school on the island of Nantes, completely ablaze up to the roof of the establishment, made the rounds in the media. The fire started during a blockade on Thursday October 1 in the morning, it was an “arson” according to the rectorate. The high school will have to remain closed for at least a month, until the end of the All Saints' Day holidays. 1,700 students find themselves doing lessons at home. Interns were inside when the fire started. They had to return home urgently, and are still in shock.
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Neyla contemplates the burnt glass roof of her high school, blocked off with police tape. “I was in this room at 8 a.m., the one that burned,” she says. “We were quickly evacuated. We could see the flames and the firefighters upstairs. We were all just crying,” she says, pointing to the first floor. The high school student is categorical, those responsible are "everything except us. They are people who came and said to themselves that they were going to destroy everything", she regrets.
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The interns were gathered at the conservatory, right next to the establishment, to wait for news on their phones. “I'm just reading. They say that the school should not reopen until the All Saints' Day vacation,” Neyla learns. Gabin, 16, only has his t-shirt on his back. “Actually, I have nothing. I went out like that. I hope we can get our things back as quickly as possible,” he hopes. He plays handball in sport-studies, like Mathieu's son. This father arrives in disaster from Le Mans. He left his job to bring several children home to Sarthe. “It’s catastrophic for children who play handball. Remote schooling, I think it can be managed. But here, playing handball remotely is not possible,” he recalls.
“The group of people who did this, I don’t think they realize the consequences for everyone.”
Mathieu, father of a student at Nelson Mandela high school in Nantes
at franceinfo
The experts will have to determine whether the structure of the high school was affected. The building was built just 12 years ago. It cost 64 million euros.
Most high schools in the Nantes metropolis will remain closed
Eleven high schools remained closed on Friday. This is almost all of the public establishments in the metropolis. Because beyond the spectacular fire at Nelson Mandela, several other high schools have suffered damage. Almost every time, it is the work of small masked groups with hoods on their heads and fireworks mortars in their hands. Thursday evening, the rector of the Academy, Raphaël Müller, ended up resigning himself to leaving the establishments closed, for the safety of the students. "I absolutely condemn this degradation in this high school and in other high schools. I absolutely condemn the violence. We are facing phenomena of thugs, unbridled violence. Today, we are worried about the safety of high school students. I am turning to families to invite them to be vigilant, to tell their children not to put themselves in danger," declares the rector.
He announces that he does not know how Friday will go. Calls to come together are circulating on social networks. The police will patrol around the establishments. Even the trams and buses in Nantes will be diverted on Friday in anticipation of possible blockages.
