After the arrest of a schoolboy suspected of harassment during class in Alfortville, the controversy grew. While the muscular action of the police is criticized by parents’ associations, the government spokesperson, Olivier Véran, defended himself on Wednesday: according to him, this arrest was made “in compliance”. He said he wanted to send “very strong messages” to harassers.
The teenager is suspected of harassing a transgender high school student.
“It was done in accordance with the agreement of the prosecution” and the “educational team,” declared the government spokesperson. “This is how we will cope with the scourge of harassment, this is how we will also protect our children, by sending these very strong messages,” he insisted at the end of the Council of Ministers.
The rectorate questions
The day before, the rectorate of the academy had questioned the method used by the police. “We are discussing with the authorities concerned to understand under what conditions police officers may have been required to intervene in a school establishment to arrest a student in class,” he said in a press release.
The case began when the parents of a 15-year-old high school student managed to be received Monday morning by the principal of the Maximilien-Perret high school in Alfortville, where the victim was enrolled in second grade, the rectorate said. The student’s father then filed a complaint with the city police station, claiming that his daughter had been targeted by homophobic messages and death threats on Instagram, the prosecution added. Thanks to the use of screenshots, the police identified the author of these messages, a student from Henri-Barbusse college in Alfortville, and came to arrest him in class.
Aggravating circumstance
An investigation into violence leading to incapacity for work for less than eight days and death threats was opened Tuesday morning, the prosecution said. The fact that these offenses were committed because of the gender or sexual orientation of the victim was considered an aggravating circumstance, added this source.
The Créteil academy told AFP that the victim, male in the civil registry, was in gender transition. Her family told the rectorate that she was a young transgender girl. The suspected schoolboy, who admitted the facts and expressed regret, was brought before a magistrate late Tuesday afternoon. The public prosecutor then notified him of an educational measure, defined by the prosecution as “an activity for the benefit of the community” which must be carried out in the coming weeks.
These facts occurred after the suicide, at the start of the school year, of Nicolas, a teenager from Poissy (Yvelines) who had complained of harassment. His parents said they were “outraged” at the treatment of his case by the authorities and the Minister of National Education Gabriel Attal promised an “electric shock at all levels” in the fight against school bullying.