Lille police and high school students clash, Fénelon lycée, Digi Mart USA News (Lille, France): Three teenagers were arrested in Lille on Tuesday, November 3, 2026, during student blockades. One of them is a first-year general track student at the Fénelon lycée, 16-year-old Soan Rauch, who is now in police custody.
About fifty people gathered outside the Lille police station to support him, at the call of the Union syndicale lycéenne (USL). Soan’s father, Mathieu Rauch, was on site trying to get news of his son, whom he had not been able to see by late afternoon.
According to Mathieu Rauch, students attempted a peaceful blockade by moving trash bins, with no projectiles thrown and no anti-police chants. He said his son had been involved since the start of the movement and appears to have been identified as one of its leaders.
Tensions had also arisen the previous day between blockading students and parents trying to prevent the blockade. Mathieu Rauch said about fifteen so-called “vigilant” parents were present Tuesday to ensure things went well, and described periods of tension, inappropriate behavior by some officers, hair-pulling, and students pushed to the ground.
According to the father, five masked officers from the BAC (anti-gang brigade) grabbed the 16-year-old, dragged him to the ground and handcuffed him even though he was injured. A video of the arrest shows the teenager struggling while several officers pull him by the arm.
Witnesses alerted officers to his injury, but the arrest continued.
Lille prosecutor Samuel Filniez confirmed Soan Rauch’s police custody on charges of insult, resisting arrest, and participation in a gathering to commit violence or damage. The prosecutor said three police officers have filed complaints, and investigations are underway into what happened before the arrest.
