“The flames rose to the 1st floor”: in Lyon, the door of the Édouard-Herriot high school burned during a blockade

Immense flames that lick the stone and devour the wood. This is how the door of the Édouard-Herriot high school, in Lyon, was seriously damaged. The establishment was set on fire this Friday 6 in the morning by demonstrators who blocked the entrance to the high school, according to the Interdepartmental Directorate of the National Police (DIPN). The school filed a complaint and an investigation was immediately opened by the Lyon public prosecutor's office. The investigations were entrusted to the DIPN du Rhône and aim to identify the perpetrators.

The fire apparently started from trash cans and electric scooters that had been piled up in front of the high school to block it, according to Le Progrès. Students were in the establishment when the fire started, but no injuries were reported. “The high school is burning with students inside and some are exulting,” lamented Samuel Soulier, mayor of the 6th arrondissement of Lyon on social networks.

“The 1,080 students were able to be evacuated peacefully thanks to the calmness of the principal and his teams,” commented Ottman Zaïr, sub-prefect of the Rhône sur X prefecture, who visited the site. “Protesting is a right. Using violence to harm the institution, the Republic, injure people, destroy public buildings, is a despicable act,” he added. The high school had “already been targeted by mortar fire at the start of the movement,” reports Le Progrès.

“When the fire started again, they applauded”

But how did the situation degenerate? Emmanuelle, whose Cerfogli store is next to the high school, tells Le Figaro that around thirty students were parked in front of the establishment in the morning: “The young people had taken around ten bins, and we quickly saw a fire start. They threw gasoline and firecrackers and when the fire started again, they applauded.” Then the school gate burst into flames, releasing thick clouds of smoke. Outraged by the fire in the establishment of which she is a former student, she describes: “the flames rose to the first floor”. The fire was brought under control by the firefighters, but the blackened and cracked door still bears the scars.

Like a bad omen, excesses had already taken place before the eyes of Joan, whose clothing store borders the square where the high school is located. She remembers: “there had already been large firecrackers going off at the start of the week, which had frightened the students. They had also done a fire drill at the start of the week. Fortunately, the door seems to have protected the interior of the school.

Emmanuelle followed the arrival of the police and firefighters between two customers: “the kids were all in black with balaclavas, and when the police arrived they scattered on rue de Saxe”. She adds with emotion in the face of the damage: “it’s really heartbreaking, they are burning their work tools.”