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3mo ago

France Proposes Under-15 Social Media Ban and Knife Sale Restrictions After School Stabbing

After a fatal stabbing during a routine bag check, France’s government unveiled plans to curb knife access, restrict social media use by minors

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Students leave as French gendarmes control the access to a secondary school after a 31-year-old teaching assistant was stabbed with a knife by a 15-year-old pupil during a bag search in Nogent, eastern France, on June 10, 2025. The teaching assistant, who died of her wounds, received several knife wounds just as classes were starting, and the alleged attacker, who was overpowered by gendarmes, "appears to be a student at the school," education officials said. (Photo by Jean-Christophe VERHAEGEN / AFP) (Photo by JEAN-CHRISTOPHE VERHAEGEN/AFP via Getty Images)

Overview

  • A 14-year-old student allegedly stabbed 31-year-old teaching assistant Mélanie G. to death during a bag check outside Françoise Dolto secondary school in Nogent-sur-Marne and was arrested at the scene.
  • The victim, a single mother and municipal councillor who began teaching last year, suffered multiple knife wounds and later died in hospital while a gendarme sustained a minor hand injury subduing the attacker.
  • Since March, random bag searches at schools have led to the confiscation of 186 knives and the detention of 32 individuals, reflecting growing concerns over youth violence.
  • President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister François Bayrou condemned the attack as part of a “senseless wave of violence” and pledged to intensify crime-reduction efforts in schools.
  • New measures include a ban on social media accounts for under-15s and a decree to restrict knife sales to minors within the next two weeks, with discussions also under way on metal detectors and psychologists in schools.