Knife attacker wounds teacher, student in southern France

PARIS: A knife attacker in the southern France’s city of Antibes wounded a teacher and a student at a horticultural college Wednesday, police said, the latest attack to hit an educational establishment in the country.

The victims are a 16-year-old student and a 52-year-old teacher, who was seriously injured, officials said, adding their lives were not in danger.

“Thank you to the national and municipal police, as well as the fire brigade, for their rapid response and exemplary commitment in this extremely tense situation, symbolic of the tragic rise in violence in our country,” Eric Pauget, a lawmaker who represents Antibes, posted on X.

France has seen several knife attacks on teachers and students in recent years.

Last week, a teacher was wounded by a colleague who stabbed him twice during an altercation in the staff room of a high school in Martigues, northwest of the southern port city of Marseille.

In June, a 14-year-old secondary school student stabbed to death a 31-year-old teaching assistant in the eastern town of Nogent.

In April, a student killed a 15-year-old girl and wounded three other people at a college in the western city of Nantes.

In March, police began carrying out random searches for concealed weapons in and around schools.

Contacted by AFP, the education ministry did not immediately comment.