On Wednesday 30 September 2026, in Le Cheylard (Ardèche), near the school complex, a “rather quiet” high-school protest comes to an abrupt end after a minor student is tear-gassed by a member of the gendarmerie, according to the Dauphiné Libéré. The scene, which was filmed, is relayed on social media. According to ICI, it shows a gendarme using a tear-gas canister on a young person’s face after clumsily stepping over wooden beams and a roadworks barrier set up as a barricade.
The Dauphiné Libéré describes the sequence: the gendarme removes barriers placed by high-school students, rushes towards a minor who had just amused himself by putting one back in place, then gasses him, without warning. The newspaper reports that, to justify a possible use of a drone or helicopter to secure high-school protests in Ardèche, the prefecture mentioned “a barrier thrown by a student at a member of the national gendarmerie who had to use tear gas” (translated), and points out contradictions between these statements and the filmed scene (the newspaper’s assessment).
On 6 October, the Privas public prosecutor, quoted by the Dauphiné Libéré and confirmed to ICI, announces the opening of a flagrante delicto inquiry for intentional violence by a person holding public authority, entrusted to the Le Teil investigation brigade; “investigations are under way” (translated). No information on the student’s state of health, no complaint from his family and no named individual under investigation are reported in the articles read as of 2026-10-07. The coordinates of this entry are those of the lycée et collège des Deux Vallées, the exact location of the scene not being specified by the sources.