Marseille: a minor referred for “act of barbarity” after the attack on a woman with flaming spray

After the attack on a woman with an inflammable spray on the sidelines of the high school movement in Marseille, a minor aged 15 and a half was referred this Sunday for indictment by an investigating judge for “act of barbarism”, indicates the public prosecutor of Marseille, Nicolas Bessone, in a press release.

The attack took place Thursday October 1, 2026, on the Place du 4 September, in the 7th arrondissement of Marseille. “That day, around 10 a.m., in a context of high school demonstrations near the Colbert high school, a 40-year-old woman, a care worker, was at the bus stop and tried to intervene in the face of young people who were preparing to break the bus shelter with a metal barrier,” indicates the prosecution in this press release. “Once the group had left, the young minor advanced towards the victim, and projected a spray towards his face which he ignited using a lighter,” continues the public prosecutor.

He admitted the facts

The suspect was arrested the next day, at the end of the day, by the “personal attacks” group of the local judicial police service (SLPJ) after investigations based in particular on the use of video surveillance. In police custody, “the author immediately recognized the facts and, upon understanding the significance, expressed deep regrets,” specifies the Marseille prosecutor’s office. The suspect, a student at Colbert high school, was enrolled in the second “personal assistance service” class. Until then, he was unknown to the police and justice services. The Marseille prosecutor's office indicates that it will request his placement in pre-trial detention "in view of the disturbance to public order".