Mélina Facchin 18:30 p.m., November 07, 2023

The Marguerite-Perey elementary school in Strasbourg was set on fire by rioters on the night of 29 to 30 June. After several months of cleaning and refurbishment, the school, located in the Cronenbourg district, was able to welcome its students again, to the delight of the children.

It was a rather special return to school that 240 students from the Marguerite-Perey elementary school in Strasbourg experienced this Tuesday morning. The establishment was set on fire during riots that took place on the night of June 29 to 30. Since then, the facility has been closed. But after four months of work, the children wore big smiles and were finally able to joyfully return to their newly renovated school. Since September, they had been attending other schools in the neighbourhood.

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All furniture changed

Manon, 9 years old, and her mother Cindy told Europe 1 of their relief. "I'm happy to see her again because I missed her a lot," she said. "With the fires, it's true that it was very complicated for the children. They were very confused," the mother describes. "It's unfortunate to attack schools, we don't do that. But hey, we're turning the page. They're coming back to their school, they're happy, that's the main thing," says Cindy.

The walls, floors and ceilings were decontaminated and repainted. The broken windows were obviously changed, as was the furniture. "A few very complicated weeks and today (Tuesday), a revival and a superb school," said Nathalie Amannn, the school's director. "We're very happy. Yesterday (Monday) we set everything up with the teachers and today we can finally welcome the children." All that remains now is to replace the hundreds of books that went up in smoke in the school library.