France: 14-year-old stabs teacher to death in school

A man holding a knife

French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday condemned “senseless.. violence” after a 14-year-old pupil fatally stabbed a teaching assistant, the latest deadly incident at a school in the country.

The secondary school student was arrested after attacking the 31-year-old assistant with a knife during a bag search in Nogent in eastern France, officials said.

France has, in recent years, seen several attacks on teachers and pupils by other schoolchildren.

In March, police started random searches for knives and other weapons concealed in bags at and around schools.

The assistant at the Francoise Dolto school in Nogent was stabbed several times shortly before 8:00 am, “as pupils were arriving for a visual inspection of their bags in the presence of the police”, education officials said.

The suspect was taken into custody.

Emergency vehicles and police cars were parked outside the school at midday, AFP journalists saw. Punch