Benjamin Peter (special correspondent to Saint-Jean-de-Luz), edited by Gauthier Delomez 7:55 p.m., February 22, 2023

A dramatic scene took place this Wednesday morning in Saint-Jean-de-Luz.

A Spanish teacher who taught at the Saint-Thomas d'Aquin high school was stabbed in the middle of class by a student in her class.

Europe 1 went there to collect the testimony of high school students present in front of the establishment.

The Spanish course in the private Catholic high school Saint-Thomas-d'Aquin, in Saint-Jean-de-Luz in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques, had just started.

One of the students of a second class and aged 16 gets up and stabs the teacher with his knife just out of his bag, at chest level, all without saying a single word.

The murder of the teacher took place in a few seconds, in stupor.

Europe 1 collected the word of Inès, witness to the scene.

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"Suddenly, the student planted the knife on the teacher. He got up very naturally, and when I looked up, he was standing, already with the knife in his hand", recalls the high school student.

"I didn't really see when he got up, but he looked calm. I can't really realize what happened, I never thought I would experience this," says the 'pupil.

An establishment confined for two hours

Immediately after the action, the establishment was confined, as evidenced by Paul and Patxi.

They remained locked in for two hours in anguish with their teacher.

"We weren't allowed to go out, we didn't have to worry anyway. We didn't believe it," reports the first to Europe 1. "We didn't know what to do, it was unreal “, continues the second.

Paul further claims that "some teachers cried".

"We were told not to believe the TV, and that she (the teacher killed) was not dead yet," he adds, conceding that he looked at his phone to see the latest information.

"For us, it was written that she was dead, but our teachers, in any case mine, did not want to believe it".

Like Inès, Paul says he still does not realize what happened, and compares this situation with the assassination of Samuel Paty in October 2020.

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This Thursday, the students will be well received and the courses should be trivialized.

The day should make it possible to put words on what they have experienced, and they will be surrounded by a psychological cell already in place.

A minute of silence is also planned in all establishments in the country, announced Minister Pap Ndiaye, underlining "a sad day for National Education".