On the morning of Thursday 1 October 2026, outside the Marie-de-Champagne lycée in Troyes, a video is shot during the students’ demonstration (Orange Actualités, which says it obtained it and writes, “according to our information”, that it was reportedly filmed by a student’s parent; it is also broadcast by Brut). France 3 Grand Est describes it as follows: “an unmarked police car driving at high speed along a street where there are many young people. Tear gas is sprayed by the police officers on board through the windows of the vehicle, whose flashing light and siren were activated. The young people step aside at the very last moment, shouting” (translated), then the vehicle “takes a tight turn to join law enforcement posted further away” (translated).
The footage is widely shared on Friday 2 October, notably by officials and an LFI member of parliament who denounce it (France 3). In a statement sent on the evening of 2 October, the Aube prefecture states that the “footage, isolated from its context, can understandably cause emotion and incomprehension” but must be placed in the “situation of strong tensions that prevailed at the time” (translated). It places the events on 1 October near the Marie-de-Champagne lycée, and puts forward, citing projectile throwing described in the linked entry, that the flashing light, siren and gas were used “to clear the vehicle from the area and thus preserve the physical integrity of the officers and of the resources deployed” (translated).
According to the prefecture, up to 600 people were counted at the peak of the gathering, students from several schools and “people from outside the school environment” (translated); six arrests took place on 1 October in the département for violence against persons holding public authority (France 3). The same statement reports two police officers injured during this gathering, one of them with eight days of ITT (days of total incapacity for work), without saying where, how or by whom, and without linking them to this scene; this point is not counted as a fact, for lack of a described act. No injury to a young person linked to the scene is reported in the articles read.
Follow-up
Canal 32 repeats the prefecture’s statement, in which the Aube prefect says he remains “particularly attentive” to the conditions in which internal security forces intervene (translated). No complaint, investigation or referral to the IGPN (police internal affairs) is mentioned in the articles read as of 2026-10-04; franceinfo, which lists five investigations entrusted to the IGPN after students were injured by LBD (rubber-bullet launcher) or grenades, does not mention this scene.