A woman was left clutching her face and screaming after a hooded figure in black directed a jet of flame straight at her during chaotic high-school protests, video of the attack shows.
The incident unfolded around 10 am on Thursday, 1 October, at the bus stop on Place du 4-Septembre in Marseille’s 7th arrondissement. The victim, named by a friend as Jade, had been waiting for a bus when a group among the student demonstrators seized a metal barrier and began trying to smash the shelter.
According to the friend who filmed and posted about the attack, Jade stepped in, blocked them and tried to talk them down. “My friend Jade tried to stop them, blocking them and talking to them. She was violently attacked,” the witness wrote. “One of them burned the left side of her face… Fortunately, there were no serious burns (first-degree burns).”
Footage authenticated by French broadcasters shows her locked in a tug-of-war over the barrier with others when a fully masked individual dressed in black approaches. He aims an aerosol spray and lighter at her head from close range, sending a burst of flame into her face. She recoils, hands flying to her cheek and hair, while onlookers shriek. The attacker then turns and walks calmly away into the crowd, a departure France 3 described as “sure, almost professional.”
Police sources told BFMTV the assault took place amid tensions during the lycée blockades. The Marseille prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation for voluntary violence causing incapacity of eight days or less, aggravated by use of a weapon, a concealed face and the fact it was committed in a group. The victim filed a formal complaint the following day. The prefecture of Bouches-du-Rhône said investigators are “fully mobilised” to identify the suspect so he can be brought before a court, and that the prefect and police prefect have expressed their full support for the victim.
The attack formed part of a day of widespread disruption. Local authorities reported that 43 schools in the department saw gatherings, with nearly 5,000 young people involved at the peak and around 1,000 in Marseille itself. The protests, which have spread across France, centre on complaints about overcrowded classrooms, teacher shortages and the state of school buildings, but have repeatedly spilled into vandalism, clashes and attacks on property and bystanders.
No arrest has been announced. The attacker remains unidentified. The friend’s account stressed the burns were first-degree and not severe; no fuller medical details have been released. The short video has circulated widely, prompting outrage at the casual targeting of a woman who had simply tried to prevent public property from being wrecked.
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