VIRY-CHATILLON, France – French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal on April 18 announced measures to crack down on teenage violence in and around schools, as the government seeks to reclaim ground on security from the far-right two months ahead of European elections.

Mr Attal revealed his plan hours before a man stabbed two young girls aged seven and 11 outside their school in eastern France, further underlining concerns of security at educational establishments. Their wounds were not deemed serious.

France has in recent weeks been shaken by a series of attacks on schoolchildren by their peers, in particularly the fatal beating earlier in April of 15-year-old Shemseddine, outside Paris. He was beaten by a group and later succumbed to his injuries in hospital.

The issue has come to a head, with the far-right National Rally (RN) accusing Mr Attal of not doing enough on security, as the anti-immigration party soars ahead of the government coalition in polls for the June 9 election.

Speaking in Viry-Chatillon, the town where Shemseddine was killed, he condemned the “addiction of some of our adolescents to violence”, calling for “a real surge of authority... to curb violence”.

“There are twice as many adolescents involved in assault cases, four times more in drug trafficking and seven times more in armed robberies than in the general population,” he said, also noting increased “Islamist” influences.

Measures will include expanding compulsory school attendance to all the days of the week from 8am to 6pm for children of college age.

“In the day the place to be is at school, to work and to learn,” said Mr Attal, who was also marking 100 days in office since being appointed in January by President Emmanuel Macron to turn around the government’s fortunes.

Teaching respect

Parents needed to take more responsibility, Mr Attal said, warning that particularly disruptive children would have sanctions marked on their final grades.

Promoting an old-fashioned back-to-basics approach to school authority, he said: “You break something – you repair it. You make a mess – you clear it up. And if you disobey – we teach you respect.”

Mr Attal also floated the possibility of children in exceptional cases being denied the right to special treatment on account of their minority in legal cases.

Thus, 16-year-olds could be forced to immediately appear in court after violations “like adults”, he said.

In France, the age of majority is 18, in accordance with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Mr Macron and Mr Attal face an uphill struggle to reverse the tide ahead of the European elections. Current polls point to the risk of a major debacle that would overshadow the rest of Mr Marcon’s second mandate up to 2027.

A poll this week by Ifop-Fiducial showed the RN on 32.5 per cent, with the government coalition way behind on 18 per cent.

‘Commotion in front of school’

A man born in April 1994 in the main eastern French city of Strasbourg was arrested after stabbing an 11-year-old in front of the school in the town of Souffelweyersheim just outside Strasbourg, and then a seven-year-old nearby.

“A man armed with what could have been a knife attacked a girl, wounding her in the neck just before 2pm,” Strasbourg prosecutor Yolande Renzi said.

Both received superficial wounds, the police said, adding that the attacker did not appear to have any known links to radicals and was not previously known to the security services.

Both girls were treated in a paediatric hospital. Parents were later in the afternoon allowed to pick up their children, who had been confined to the school in the immediate aftermath of the attack.

There was no indication so far that the attacker had a link with the school.

“I’m really scared. We’ve been reassured that the children are safe inside, but we don’t know when we’ll be able to get them back,” Sarah, a mother of an eight-year-old pupil, said before the green light was given to collect the children.

“A friend called me. She saw the commotion in front of the school as she passed by. Her reflex was to call me so that I could pick up my son.” AFP