The video of the scene had caused a strong emotion on social networks.
Four 15-year-old teenagers were taken into police custody as part of an investigation for aggravated violence after the attack on a disabled comrade who had been filmed, the Senlis prosecution said on Thursday.
The suspects, educated in the same establishment as the victim, were arrested in the morning "at their respective homes", said the prosecutor, Loïc Abrial, in a press release.
Their police custody was extended by 24 hours to “allow further investigations and decision-making as to the criminal responses to these acts of violence”, he added.
A fifth teenager was also arrested, then released after being cleared, he said.
The student filed a complaint
The Senlis prosecutor's office had opened a flagrant investigation for aggravated violence on Tuesday, after the filing of a complaint by the 16-year-old high school student with a disability.
Accompanied by his mother, the teenager had told investigators "to have suffered violence from several other young people", twice on Monday.
The facts took place in Saint-Maximin (Oise), near his school.
“He specified that he had a disability, an element which according to him was apparent and known to his attackers,” added Loïc Abrial in a first press release published on Wednesday.
The victim was granted two days of total incapacity for work.
Suspects invoke racial slurs
On the video, posted on social networks, the high school student is cornered against a fence and receives several punches and kicks from the attackers, as well as a blow from his school bag.
The four teenagers arrested admitted the violence, but explained that they had acted "in reaction to racist insults uttered by the victim", indicated the prosecutor in his press release on Thursday.
“At this stage of the investigation, this point is not confirmed and is disputed by the victim, who admits to having insulted the other young people, but without racist connotation”, he added.
The Minister of Solidarity denounces an "atrocious act"
“The aggression of young Rudy in the Oise is more than intolerable!
“, tweeted Thursday the Minister of Solidarity Jean-Christophe Combe, denouncing an “atrocious act”.
“The rectorate condemns with the greatest firmness” this aggression, and “depending on the progress of the investigation, disciplinary procedures will also be initiated by the school”, declared the academy of Amiens in a press release.
"The education of this student with a disability has been the subject of great attention" since "his arrival last year", the teams having always "supported him in his integration into high school", she said. added.
Miscellaneous facts
Reims: A fight breaks out between several young people in front of a high school
Miscellaneous facts
Dijon: A 16-year-old teenager arrested in possession of an electric pulse gun in front of a high school
Hauts-de-France
Picardy
Violence
High school