Violence at Nicolas-Louis Vauquelin high school: the principal refuses to respond to CNews

This is the news of the moment. This Monday, since the early hours of the day, the news channels have been continuously reporting on the high school students' protest movement. Among the establishments affected, the Nicolas-Louis Vauquelin high school located in the 13th arrondissement of Paris was heavily attacked.

“At 7:50 a.m., we were with our teams in the forecourt of the establishment to welcome our students as we do every morning and then we saw a group of young people dressed in black, hooded, quite determined arrive and then we understood that we were not going to be able to discuss with them. So, I brought my teams into the establishment and indeed, from there, there was an outbreak of violence. They threw trash cans against the door of the establishment, poured an inflammable liquid, set it on fire and banged on the door. It was very fast, very organized and very violent,” explained principal Carole Zerbib on franceinfo.

The manager also spoke in front of LCI cameras. “I wanted to open the establishment in order to ensure our public service mission, to welcome the students who were there but I realize that the security conditions were not met so that we could guarantee the safety of all and maintain the opening of the establishment,” she declared, adding that she was “worried about the coming days”.

Present at the same time, a journalist from CNews, in turn, questioned the principal. “Were they students from the establishment or from surrounding groups,” he asked. “No, they are not my students, they are groups,” replied Carole Zerbib before casting an interrogative look at the microphone cover held out by Guillaume Foucqueteau. “What is that?” “CNews”, then replied the journalist from “100% Frontières”. “Ah no!”, the head of the school reacted immediately, recalling: “I said no CNews”.

While the LCI cameras continued to broadcast the sequence live, Guillaume Foucqueteau justified himself: “Yes, but I hold out my microphone, it’s the press.” Then he demanded an explanation: “But why more other journalists than me?” “But because I do not agree with the editorial line of CNews, I think that you are not doing young people any good,” retorted Carole Zerbib.

Later in the morning, Guillaume Foucqueteau spoke on “100% Frontières”. “I would like to point out, it is very damaging, that two AEDs [educational assistants, Editor’s note] from the Vauquelin high school insulted us,” he said gratefully: “The principal who was there on site did not wish to answer our microphone.”