French police open attempted murder inquiry after officer beaten in Belfort school protests

Plainclothes officer attacked outside Lycée Courbet in Belfort

Judicial authorities in Belfort opened an inquiry for attempted murder of a public authority in a group following an attack outside Lycée Courbet on Friday, 2 October 2026. The incident occurred at 9:15 AM after a plainclothes officer arrested a young man near the school gates during high school blockade protests. A crowd of youths quickly surrounded the officer, enabling the initial detainee to escape while inflicting multiple strikes to the officer's head. Police reinforcements intervened shortly afterward to disperse the crowd and administer initial aid to the fallen officer. The officer suffered a temporary loss of consciousness along with multiple lacerations to his face, requiring transport to a local hospital.

Paul-Edouard Lallois, the public prosecutor in Belfort, outlined the sequence of events that led to the investigation.

was set upon by a wild mob of young people who knocked him to the ground and rained punches and kicks on him, particularly to the head

Investigators detained a 17-year-old student enrolled at Lycée Courbet shortly after the altercation. The prosecutor noted that the teenager was not formally identified as having delivered strikes, with inquiries ongoing to determine whether he participated directly in the assault.

Paris assault on trainee lieutenant during school blockades

The Belfort investigation followed a similar confrontation in Paris on Thursday, 1 October 2026. A trainee police lieutenant attached to the Paris police prefecture was chased and kicked to the ground in the capital. The prefecture reported that the officer was deployed as reinforcement near Place Auguste-Métivier in the 11th arrondissement, where a unit of officers faced approximately 100 demonstrators. When the lieutenant paused to retrieve a police radio that had fallen to the ground, a group of roughly 10 individuals pursued her, chanting insults and shouting death threats.

One pursuer executed a leg sweep that brought the officer down onto the pavement, where assailants delivered at least two kicks, including blows to her back. The victim lodged a formal criminal complaint at the 20th arrondissement police station later that day. The Paris prosecutor assigned an investigation into aggravated violence against a public authority to the territorial security division.

Political reactions and reported security force injuries

The attacks drew responses across French political leadership as high school blockades continued. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez condemned the violence, stating that law enforcement personnel were confronting rioters rather than conventional demonstrators when using force under his directives. Nuñez reported that 305 police officers and gendarmes sustained injuries during operations on Thursday, while confirming that the Belfort officer had received medical attention.

The deliberately targeted police officer was hospitalised after losing consciousness. Fortunately, his condition no longer causes major concern at this time.

National Assembly President Yaël Braun-Pivet appealed directly to lawmakers to help lower tensions across the country.

To the deputies, I ask you with the greatest firmness: call for calm. Now. Stop this escalation.

National Rally figures also weighed in on the footage circulated on social media. Marine Le Pen described the recorded Paris assault as unbearable, stating that those who attacked the fallen trainee deserved exemplary sentences, while party leader Jordan Bardella joined calls condemning the street violence.