On Tuesday 29 September 2026, a blockade of the Jacques-Brel lycée, in the Minguettes district of Vénissieux, begins as early as 7:30 a.m.; hundreds of students gather on avenue d’Oschatz and face law enforcement for nearly four hours (Expressions). The mayor and several elected officials are present. According to Expressions, police officers use tear gas and, according to several witnesses, carry out rough arrests; firefighters put out fires on both sides of the avenue. At least four students were reportedly arrested.
On 30 September, teachers and staff, supported by the CGT, FSU and Sud Éducation unions, publish a statement (repeated by Expressions, Rue89 Lyon and Lyon Capitale). They denounce “unacceptable police violence”: according to them, the first tensions appear around 7:40 a.m. after a few firecrackers, the police quickly use tear gas on students who are overwhelmingly minors, and students are arrested violently before their eyes, notably for filming. “Some of them report physical after-effects and hospital visits after their arrest.” (translated) They add that the lycée was hit by projectiles and that fires broke out nearby, “some of them probably triggered by the tear-gas grenades of law enforcement” according to them (translated). These projectiles and fires, with no perpetrator or specific act in the sources read, do not form a separate fact.
Staff also reproach the school management for closing the school only at 1:29 p.m. They call for an end to police violence, the release of students in police custody and the dropping of proceedings, a day set aside for discussion and a hearing at the education authority (rectorat), and refuse to return to work until the safety of students and staff is ensured. The lycée remained closed on 30 September and 2 October.
The Rhône prefecture and the Lyon public prosecutor’s office did not, in the articles read, respond on these events: the public prosecutor’s office reports 138 people arrested in the jurisdiction since 29 September (France 3 Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, 02/10), with no detail on this lycée.
What is missing to confirm
- A version from the Rhône prefecture or the Lyon public prosecutor’s office on the arrests outside Jacques-Brel (number of students, grounds, police custody): none in the articles read.
- A second independent source for the violence: Rue89 Lyon, Lyon Capitale and Expressions (30/09) relay the same statement; only Expressions (29/09) describes the scene with its own witnesses (read on 2026-10-05).
- The after-effects and hospital visits: no medical report, no number of students concerned, no duration of sick leave or ITT.
- An image or video of the arrests.
- Not read: Le Progrès, Lyon Mag, actu.fr Lyon, Tribune de Lyon (nothing specific found on this lycée).