Romain Rouillard / Photo credit: Google Maps screenshot 16:13 p.m., May 16, 2023

As revealed by "La Dépêche du Midi", the renowned Pierre-de-Fermat college, located in the city center of Toulouse, is facing a confusing phenomenon. Middle school students film and organize clandestine fights among themselves where punches and kicks rain down. An investigation has been opened.

The images are reminiscent of scenes from the movie Fight Club directed by David Fincher in 1999. Except that the protagonists here are about fifteen years old. In Toulouse, reports La Dépêche du Midi, a handful of students from the Pierre-de-Fermat college, yet famous, organize savage clashes in different places of the Pink City.

A clandestine "fight club" filmed between students of a college in Toulouse pic.twitter.com/EGWdw7QccO

— BFMTV (@BFMTV) May 16, 2023

The filmed fights are then exchanged on the WhatsApp loops of the students concerned before circulating on social networks. The videos, seen by La Dépêche, show these teenagers punching, kicking and even hitting each other on the ground, all with their bare hands and under the encouragement of their classmates. The most viewed video was shot in a laundromat, but fighting can also occur in the street in the middle of passers-by. "One Friday at the end of the day, I was going home, there was a fairly large crowd. I saw young people beating each other, they were applauded. From my apartment, I still heard them," a local resident told La Dépêche.

'A suspicion of harassment'

Questioned by BFMTV, Géraldine Artigues, president of the parents' council of Pierre-de-Fermat college, said she was placed "before the fait accompli". "This is very dangerous for our children. And there may be, for us parents of students, a suspicion of harassment or even dropping out of school behind these fights, "she continues.

>>

LISTEN ALSO - School bullying survivor Anne Liz fights for other victims

For their part, the students interviewed minimize the extent of the phenomenon. One of them assures that only two fights were organized and that it was above all a game and evokes "fun". Another acknowledges that "disputes" can be at the origin of these "fight clubs". At the same time, says La Dépêche, the management of the establishment received the parents of the fighters identified on the videos. The local daily also ensures that the rectorate has been notified and that an intervention conducted in partnership with the Departmental Directorate of Public Security (DDSP) has been conducted in classes of 4e and 3e. An investigation has been opened to determine whether sanctions should be applied. The fighting has since reportedly stopped.