A month after the affair began, the principal of the Parisian high school Maurice-Ravel left his post. He was threatened with death after an altercation with a student to whom he had reminded of the ban on wearing the veil within the school grounds.
An altercation, several complaints, death threats, an early departure, two arrests… The affair which began at the end of last February at the Maurice-Ravel high school, located in the 20th arrondissement of Paris, had the merit of being rich in twists and turns. At the origin of this widely publicized story, an altercation between the principal of the establishment and an adult student enrolled in the first year of BTS. On Wednesday, February 28, it was around 3 p.m. when the principal crossed paths with three students wearing the veil at the public high school. According to information reported by the prosecution, and including The Parisian echoes, the principal would have reminded them of their obligation to remove it from the school grounds. One of the three young women then ignored the head of the establishment, which led to the altercation.
Two versions, two complaints
“The principal came towards us and started shouting at my girlfriend. He saw that she was taking off her hat and her veil, so he came directly towards me,” explained the BTS student in early March, as relayed already at the time The Parisian. And the young woman continued: “I turned around, he pushed me and hit me violently on the arm.” A version which differs, unsurprisingly, from that of the academy, according to which the director “first took the student by the shoulder” before grabbing his arm. One thing is certain: the police had to intervene.
The next day, the BTS student filed a complaint against the principal for “violence not resulting in incapacity for work”, while the principal filed a complaint for “act of intimidation towards a person participating in the execution of a public service mission to obtain an exemption from the rules governing this service”. The student’s complaint has since been dismissed, the offense being insufficiently characterized, according to the Paris prosecutor’s office joined by BFMTV.
A case brought before the “Net court”
The story could have ended there, but the affair took a sad turn in the days following the altercation. And for good reason: very quickly, social networks took up the matter, and death threats were made against the head of the establishment. An investigation was therefore opened for cyberharassment. In a press release published by the Ministry of National Education this Wednesday, “two individuals identified as being behind the threats, although unrelated to the establishment, were arrested”.
It concerns a 26-year-old man, from Hauts-de-Seine, and a man arrested in Trouville, in Calvados. While the first will be judged on April 23 in Paris, the second was tried in immediate appearance on March 15 in Lisieux. However, he was acquitted, the offense being considered insufficiently characterized according to the prosecution, whose comments BFMTV collected.
Early departure of the principal
As we reported to you yesterday evening, students, parents and staff members of the Maurice-Ravel high school were informed, Tuesday March 26, via an internal message, of the early departure of the principal. It was indicated that the head of the establishment had “left his position for security reasons”. If the rectorate confirmed the information, it nevertheless preferred to speak of “personal convenience”. With BFMTV this Wednesday, the rectorate mentioned an “early departure” granted to the head of the establishment “a few months before his retirement […] in view of the events […]their media coverage and the impact they may have had on him”. The day after this announcement, the Prime Minister, Gabriel Attal, received this Wednesday afternoon the former principal of the Maurice-Ravel high school. In the 20 hours from TF1, Wednesday evening, the tenant of Matignon announced that the State was going to file a complaint against the student for slanderous denunciation.
For its part, joined by RTL that same day, the BTS student revealed that he had left the establishment at the end of February, just after the altercation, effectively stopping his studies. Today, she works with her mother as a facilitator in a nursery school. According to her, the altercation would have simply precipitated her departure from high school. Before this affair, she was already considering stopping her studies. Questioned about the facts, she said she regretted the extent of this story and said she was sorry for the principal. Condemning the death threats, she nevertheless maintains her version of the facts. And to conclude: “It was better for him to leave if he didn’t feel safe. I moved on.”