Armed man takes pupils hostage in French school

[BlackRain]

Armed man takes pupils hostage in French school
Thu Mar 9, 2006 4:07 PM GMThttp://i.today.*******.co.uk/images/spacer.gif

NANTES, France (*******) - An armed former teacher took 18 pupils and two adults hostage in a school in western France on Thursday, local officials said.

http://permanent.nouvelobs.com/photos/20060309.OBS5292.jpg

Police surrounded the building as the man held the pupils, a teacher and another adult in a classroom in the secondary school in Sable-sur-Sarthe in western France, a spokesman for the town authorities said.


The hostages were seized at the Colbert de Torcy high school in Sable-sur-Sarthe, near the western town of Le Mans, not far from Paris.

The hostage-taker made no immediate demands. Police did not say what weapon he was carrying but France Info radio said he was armed with a gun.

The spokesman for the local authorities gave no details about the man other than saying he was a former teacher at the school. France Info said he was aged 33.


French special forces GIGN are reported to be en route from Paris to the scene.

The mayor of Sable-sur-Sarthe, about 220 km (140 miles) southwest of Paris, is Francois Fillon, a former education minister.

http://today.*******.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2006-03-09T160736Z_01_L09563103_RTRUKOC_0_UK-FRANCE-HOSTAGES.xml

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I hope these innocent children are safe. What type of man takes children hostage?

[ed316]

repost. there is one in General discussion

[BlackRain]

Updates...

Director of the French high school where the ex teacher (33) took 18 hostages, got in touch with the parents of each of the kidnapped students, Radio France Info reports. According to the info the hostage taker allowed a pregnant woman to get out from the room where the other hostages were kept.

http://www.focus-fen.net/index.php?catid=135&newsid=84169&ch=0

Paris. The hostage taker in France is probably mentally unstable and is living through an emotional crisis, the BBC correspondent in Paris reports. The journalist claims that no matter of the hostages and the handgun, the incident will end peacefully. The BBC journalist underlined the experience of France in similar hostage crisis.

http://www.focus-fen.net/index.php?catid=135&ch=0&newsid=84171

[soprano]

I must admit when i first heard this i thought he was a Muslim fanatic -no offence to anyone!

[Will938]

I must admit when i first heard this i thought he was a Muslim fanatic -no offence to anyone!

I didn't, I imagined the stereotypical frenchman in my head.

[PaulClift]

I must admit when i first heard this i thought he was a Muslim fanatic -no offence to anyone!

Just a guy with a grudge, he couldnt get a job working with children, so he thought he would impress them with the old favourite of holding them hostage instead.