On the morning of Thursday 1 October 2026, a “deliberate fire” (translated), according to the deputy school head quoted by AFP (RTBF) and the education authority (rectorat) (franceinfo), breaks out at the entrance of the Nelson-Mandela lycée, on the île de Nantes, and spreads to the glass roof. According to the rectorat, quoted by RTBF, the fire occurred “following a gathering marked by violence directed at staff” (translated); staff and students are evacuated. Boarders were in the building and all were able to get out (franceinfo).
The school has more than 1,700 students and will remain closed for at least a month. Expert assessments are to establish whether the structure is affected. According to the Loire-Atlantique prefecture (RTBF), “violent individuals” (translated) reportedly came to “join the high-school students to commit damage” (translated); students interviewed by franceinfo say those responsible are people from elsewhere. The France 2 report (franceinfo) describes “several dozen hooded individuals” (translated) who “target the school, throwing projectiles at the façade” (translated) early in the morning, a bin fire that “grows” (translated) and then the hall catching fire; it also reports firework mortar shots, to which the police respond with tear gas grenades, and, according to the prefecture, that the arsonists present were not students of the school. France 3 quotes a member of a high-school student collective organizing the blockade: “a group of hooded people from outside the movement” (translated) “fired mortars and set fire” (translated) (the account of one party, which France 3 writes is “confirmed by various sources” (translated)). Firefighters were on the scene from 7:59 a.m., with 62 firefighters and 28 vehicles; no occupant was injured (France 3). Expert assessments of the roof frame are planned for the following week (France 3, 02/10). Another Nantes school, Talensac, also had its glass doors destroyed by a fire the same morning (franceinfo, ICI Loire Océan; a separate matter, not covered here).
No perpetrator is identified in the sources read: the category “Protesters” here designates the context (a blockade), not established perpetrators.
Follow-up
No arrest, complaint or specific investigation linked to this fire is reported in the sources read as of 2026-10-04; France 3 writes only that “an investigation must determine the exact circumstances” (translated) of the incident. The prefecture counts 18 arrests in the département on 1 October, with no established link to this fire.
On 14 October, according to ICI Loire Océan (which cites information from Ouest-France), the Region states in a letter to the rectorat that a reopening of “almost all of the classrooms” (translated) is envisaged for Monday 16 November 2026, a date that could be pushed back by a week “if new setbacks arose during the phase of making the damaged part safe” (translated). Students resumed classes remotely on 7 October; students, teachers and parents are calling for modular buildings so as to resume in person from 2 November. The boarding-house rooms will not be accessible (90 places identified for the boarders, the school having 160) and the reopening date of the catering is not announced, further studies being awaited (ICI Loire Océan). No arrest or judicial investigation is reported in this article.