A stabbing attack at a private school in Nantes, western France, has left one student dead and at least three others injured.
The incident occurred at Notre-Dame-de-Toutes-Aides school on Thursday afternoon.
According to local French media outlet Le Parisien, the arrested suspect distributed a manifesto entitled “Immune Action” to all fellow students prior to the assault taking place.
In the manifesto, the 16-year-old suspect harshly criticised the current global system, highlighting climate related issues such as “global ecocide,” defined as “the sum of human actions that destroy, fragment, poison, or commodify” living things. The document referred specifically to “the disappearance of species,” “chemical contamination,” “concreting,” “industrial exploitation,” and “the loss of ecological knowledge”, among other topics.
He also complained about social alienation and claimed that modern society’s “totalitarian social conditioning” served to “sterilise imaginations and make humans docile, predictable and programmable”.
Authorities have said that the suspect was restrained by a teacher and subsequently arrested at the scene. The school was immediately evacuated, with a significant presence of police and emergency services.
Witnesses described scenes of panic, with students running through the school grounds, while others remained confined in classrooms after an alarm was raised. Authorities assisted parents in reuniting with their children as the evacuation progressed.
Rue des Épinettes, the street where the school is located, was sealed off following the attack.
France’s Education Minister and Interior Minister were due to visit the school on Thursday afternoon. Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne expressed her solidarity with the victims on social media.
The Nantes public prosecutor visited the scene and announced that a press conference would be held at 7:00 p.m. this evening.
It must be stressed that the arrested student in question is, at this point, a suspect, and has not been convicted in a court of law.
However, Europol’s annual Terrorism Situation and Trend Report (TE-SAT) identified “environmental extremists” as a growing issue in recent years. According to the 2023 Europol report:
“The line between environmental activism and environmental extremism is often a blurred one, yet some of environmental activists’ narratives might have the potential to incite violence among extremists…environmental extremism is not a new phenomenon, as there have been periods with elevated activity in previous decades. Environmental extremists are concerned with various themes, such as climate change and earth resources.”
Previously Gript asked Irish Gardaí about their awareness of environmental extremism as an issue of concern.
“An Garda Síochána is aware of Europol’s annual Terrorism Situation and Trend Report (TE-SAT), and comments relative to environmental extremism,” they said.
“The TE-SAT is a situation overview presenting figures, major developments and trends in the terrorism landscape in the EU as a whole. Member states cooperate in its preparation, but some trends and observations will have greater relevance for particular states versus others.”
They added: “Climate is one of a number of narratives and themes prevalent in the discourse and propaganda of political extremist groups within the EU at present.”