On the morning of Friday 2 October 2026, outside the Lycée de la Méditerranée in La Ciotat, during a demonstration by high-school students, a teacher tries to put out a fire starting at the foot of a tree. A video published by witnesses shows it: a young man dressed in black and masked approaches and throws petrol on him (France 3, Actu17). The teacher told BFMTV that he had “received a shower of petrol” (translated), felt a burning sensation in his eye, then was kicked by the same attacker, who ran away (Actu17, France 3).
The investigation concerns violence resulting in ITT (days of total incapacity for work) of eight days or less according to the public prosecutor’s office (France 3): it is this element, and not a published medical report, that underpins the mention of a minor injury. The teacher says he felt a burning sensation in his eye; he filed a complaint (franceinfo/AFP). Actu17 writes on 4 October that he was hit in the eye, without attributing the information to a medical report or to an authority. The teacher also told BFMTV that “one or two students” had thrown petrol near the tree before the fire took hold (France 3).
Follow-up
The Marseille public prosecutor’s office opened an investigation for violence with ITT of eight days or less, aggravated by three circumstances (weapon, concealed face, person entrusted with a public service mission). A teenager was arrested on 4 October and placed in police custody (France 3, franceinfo, Actu17, based on information from Le Parisien confirmed by a source close to the case). According to the Marseille public prosecutor’s office, quoted by franceinfo, he is a student at the lycée. Actu17, Le JDD (which quotes an AFP source) and franceinfo (headline) write that he is suspected of having doused the teacher with petrol and then struck him; France 3 writes that he is arrested “in connection with the investigations” (translated). According to franceinfo and France 3, the investigation also concerns violence against a person holding public authority, insults and damage to a police vehicle, and he is suspected of insult and of damaging a police vehicle. As of 4 October 2026, no formal placement under investigation, no referral to court and no judicial decision were reported in the sources read (follow-up on 7 October: see below). He is presumed innocent until convicted.
On 7 October, the Marseille public prosecutor’s office announces that the student suspected of having doused the teacher with petrol and struck him will appear before the Marseille juvenile court in February; the public prosecutor’s office requested that he be placed under judicial supervision, with a ban on going to the Lycée de la Méditerranée and on contacting the victim (franceinfo). Two other students, placed in police custody over the incidents in La Ciotat, will also be tried, notably for damage, theft of a riot shield and taking part in a group formed with a view to preparing violence; the three minors have been placed under judicial supervision (20 Minutes, citing AFP). The student is presumed innocent until the court’s decision.
Clarifications from ICI Provence (7 October, based on the Marseille public prosecutor’s office): the three teenagers, aged 16, placed in police custody on 6 October at the division de la criminalité territoriale, are referred to the public prosecutor’s office on 7 October with a view to their presentation before a juvenile judge, with requests for placement under judicial supervision; they will appear before the Marseille juvenile court in February 2027. For the minor suspected of having attacked the teacher, the charges retained are violence resulting in ITT of less than eight days against a person entrusted with a public service mission, with a concealed face; violence resulting in ITT of less than eight days against a person holding public authority, by landing a punch on a police officer during the attempted arrest during the demonstration, with a concealed face; and damage on the occasion of a public demonstration, by smashing a window of a marked police vehicle. For one of the other two minors: damage by smashing a window of a police vehicle and theft of a riot shield. For all three: taking part in a group formed with a view to preparing violence against persons or destruction or damage of property during a demonstration on the public highway.