Firecrackers ripped through the corridors of Lycée Pape-Clément in Pessac on Thursday, November 12, abruptly halting the institution’s attempt to reopen after weeks of blockades.
The morning reopening descended into chaos when students launched fireworks directly inside the main hall and the hallways near the teachers’ lounge, forcing an immediate evacuation of the building. La Clé Publique reported that the facility remained shuttered for the remainder of the day as staff and students dealt with the fallout.
While clearing the buildings protects occupants from active hazards, the tactic allows a handful of projectiles to effectively paralyze an entire school schedule. Violence struck two other high schools in the Bordeaux metropolitan area on the same day, yielding different operational outcomes.
Meanwhile, mortar shells fired just outside Lycée Élie-Faure in Lormont left three people with minor injuries while classes continued largely uninterrupted. Unlike the peripheral explosions in Lormont, the interior deployment at Pessac forced administrators to completely suspend daily operations.
The aborted return on Thursday followed days of paralyzed access across the Gironde department. ICI Gironde said that classes had still failed to resume at Pape-Clément by Monday, November 9, following earlier student blockades.
This persistent unrest also targets school leadership directly. Two separate assaults on high school principals occurred in Lormont and Bègles on November 3 and November 9.
In response to the mounting violence against staff, regional school administrators organized a gathering for Friday, November 13, to publicly denounce the attacks. Student demonstrations continue to target national education funding and the Parcoursup admissions platform.
However, the deployment of fireworks and mortars forces principals into immediate safety dilemmas regarding campus access. Officials announced that the closure at Pape-Clément applied exclusively to Thursday, November 12, leaving the official resumption of classes unconfirmed for Friday, November 13.
