Éric Ciotti announces he wants to make parents of vandals pay for damage in high schools

Following the incidents that occurred Thursday around several high schools in the Alpes-Maritimes, the mayor of Nice Éric Ciotti is calling for financial sanctions against the families of young people involved in the damage. The UDR elected official is also calling for measures concerning allowances and social housing.

The high school mobilizations affecting the country since Monday have prompted a reaction from Éric Ciotti. On X, the mayor of Nice responded to a post showing a fire in a high school in Rouen. The president of the Union of the Right for the Republic (UDR) is calling for the families of young people responsible for the damage to cover the cost of repairs.

“The parents of the vandals must pay for the repairs to the damage in the high schools,” writes Éric Ciotti. The proposal targets the families of individuals held responsible for the damage committed during the mobilizations.

The mayor of Nice is also calling for administrative sanctions. “Their social benefits and social housing, if they are recipients, must be cut off and withdrawn. It is not up to taxpayers to pay!”, states Éric Ciotti in the same post.

Enhanced security measures Thursday in the Alpes-Maritimes

Faced with tensions appearing around educational institutions, the prefect of the Alpes-Maritimes Jean-Marie Girier had announced as early as Wednesday a strengthening of the security measures for Thursday, October 1st. “Whatever the grievances, nothing justifies violence. Demonstrations around high schools have changed their nature: vandals have taken the place of high school students. Faced with these unacceptable acts of violence, the riot control force will be strengthened with CRS units,” the prefect had declared.

Prohibition measures concerned in particular the possession, transport and use of explosive products, combustible or corrosive materials, as well as firecrackers and mortars. Police reinforcements were also to be deployed around the affected establishments.

Jean-Marie Girier had also called on parents to “remind their children not to associate with vandals,” in order to spare them “the serious legal and disciplinary consequences to which they expose themselves.”

Thursday, however, several establishments in the Alpes-Maritimes were disrupted. Gatherings took place around high schools, while the prefect’s office reported the presence of people outside the mobilizations.

According to the report issued by the prefect’s office, 72 people were arrested during the day. Throws of mortars and projectiles, deliberate fires, damage to property and weapons-related offenses were notably recorded.

Since the start of the movement, the total number of arrests has reached 174 in the Alpes-Maritimes. Three CRS units also intervened in Nice to reinforce departmental National Police forces.

A coordination unit meeting held Friday in Nice

In this context, Éric Ciotti will chair on Friday, October 2nd a coordination unit at the Urban Supervision Center in Nice.

This meeting should allow for coordination of the action of the various municipal and metropolitan services likely to intervene in case of new public order disruptions.

The objective is to anticipate potential new blockades or overflows and to organize the response of the City of Nice and the Nice Côte d’Azur Metropolitan Area services.

At the same time, Éric Ciotti is also targeting those he presents as responsible for the violence that occurred during the high school blockades: “The far-left gurus behind the violence must be condemned with absolute severity.” A message that the president of the UDR had already recalled during the week when a video was published showing the mayor of Saint-Denis, Bally Bagayoko expressing his support for protesting high school students: “ Violence, at some point, can be legitimate too. But whenever we can avoid it, it’s better.”

As of Friday, October 2nd, 24 high schools located in Nice, Cannes, Antibes, Cagnes-sur-Mer, Menton and Grasse will switch to remote learning. This decision comes after the mobilization day and the incidents recorded Thursday in the department.