Fifteen-year-old boy dies after attack outside school near Paris

A French teenager has died from wounds suffered during a violent assault outside a school. It's the second brutal attack on a pupil in a week, prompting President Emmanuel Macron to warn schools need to be protected from the "uninhibited violence" of some youths.

A TV crew films outside Les Sablons middle school in Viry-Châtillon, where the teenage boy was assaulted. © MIGUEL MEDINA, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

The 15-year-old boy was badly beaten on Thursday near his school in Viry-Châtillon, about 20km south of Paris, and rushed to hospital following a cardiac arrest. He died of his wounds on Friday afternoon, the public prosecutor's office said.

An investigation has been opened into murder and gang assault.

Police on Friday afternoon detained five people linked to the attack, including three 17-year-olds, a 15-year-old and a 20-year-old.

Jean-Marie Vilain, the mayor of Viry-Châtillon, said the boy, identified as Shamseddine, was walking home after a music class when he was set upon by "the worst kind of thugs". They were reportedly wearing balaclavas.

"This extreme violence is becoming commonplace," he added.

Speaking to franceinfo on Saturday morning he said the town had opened a support unit to provide psychological help.

'Uninhibited violence'

It was the second such assault this week, after a 14-year-old girl was left temporarily comatose after being attacked outside her school in the southern city of Montpellier on Tuesday.

Three alleged attackers have been charged with attempted murder and detained.

Both incidents come at a time of heightened tensions around French schools, after threats of attacks were sent to dozens of educational establishments via an internal messaging system.

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President Emmanuel Macron, visiting a primary school in Paris on Friday morning, said: "We have a form of uninhibited violence among our teenagers and sometimes among increasingly younger ones. 

"Schools need to be shielded from this. School must remain a sanctuary for our children, for their families, for our teachers.

"We will be intransigent against all forms of violence," he said. 

France's education minister recently announced the creation of a national "mobile force" to be deployed to schools facing security issues.