Lyon high school fire during student protest, Digi Mart USA News (Lyon, France): Trash bins were set on fire on Friday morning in front of the Édouard-Herriot high school, causing its main entrance door to ignite during a student mobilization.
Samuel Soulier, mayor of Lyon’s 6th arrondissement, expressed what he called “deep indignation” after the fire was lit at the entrance of the school on Place Edgar Quinet. He said, “Within two minutes, we avoided catastrophe.”
The fire broke out around 10 a.m. A handful of students had chosen not to attend class and instead were protesting outside the school.
According to the mayor, “outside individuals brought trash bins that they set on fire,” and they also had denatured alcohol and aerosol cans to help the fire spread more quickly.
The entrance door quickly caught fire, and the flames reached the first floor before firefighters arrived and evacuated the students inside the building. The mayor said that had the fire reached the wooden windows, the situation would have been far worse, adding that only material damage had been recorded.
The mayor also said what he found most troubling was hearing cries of joy from some people while others were distressed and worried about classmates inside. He stated that no claim can justify endangering the lives of others, and that the people who rejoiced at the fire were not necessarily from the school.
Other disturbances were reported during the morning. Police intervened at the Cité Internationale de Gerland, which was targeted by mortar fire and a trash fire.
Eight people had been detained since the start of the morning.
