A wave of revelations about sexual assaults on young children in public nursery and primary schools is rocking the city of Paris. The left-wing city is struggling to acknowledge the facts and is seeking to silence those who are denouncing the scandal—which proves that Catholic education is unfortunately not the only one to face such cases.
Revelations have been coming thick and fast in the capital for several weeks. Complaints have multiplied against teachers and activity leaders working in Parisian state schools, ranging from sexual abuse to aggravated rape. On Tuesday, November 19th, a complaint of “aggravated rape” was filed against an activity leader working in a school in the 11th arrondissement. In another school in the same arrondissement, three youth workers have been suspended since the start of the school year. They are suspected of “sexual acts,” “exhibitionism,” and “sexual assault” respectively. According to the town hall, a total of 30 activity leaders have been suspended since the beginning of the year, including 16 for sexual offences. On Friday, November 7th, the local education authority finally acknowledged that three school teachers had also been suspended in recent weeks.
The mother of a four-year-old child who was assaulted is concerned about the scale of the incidents that have been revealed in the press and brought before the courts: “The number of cases in our neighbourhood and in Paris shows us that there is a real systemic problem. We feel alone, misunderstood, sometimes even disbelieved. We want things to change.” Groups of parents are mobilising to denounce the inaction of municipal services. For the moment, the town hall is content to announce that a “plan to strengthen measures for the protection of minors” is to be “finalised” shortly.
Several months ago, revelations of abuse, rape and sexual assault shook several Catholic educational institutions. The scandal at the Notre-Dame de Bétharram institution in the south-west even implicated former prime minister François Bayrou, who allegedly covered up the facts through his inaction while his children were attending the school, which was the subject of numerous complaints, some of which dated back several decades. The left-wing press has been particularly vocal in denouncing the incidents that took place there—more than a hundred reports on Bétharram, for example, in the columns of the left-wing newspaper Libération.
Yet on the events that took place in Paris, these same media outlets remain surprisingly silent. Just a few days ago, Libération conceded the existence of “serial” suspensions in Parisian public schools, while also emphasising the ‘stability’ of the figures—as if to dismiss the problem. Rather than expressing concern for the young victims, other media outlets are outraged by the ‘political exploitation’ of these attacks by the opposition to the socialist mayor, Anne Hidalgo.
In the capital, opposition political forces, who want to shed light on the acts suffered by children attending state schools, are met with silence from Anne Hidalgo’s entourage, and even with her ostensible contempt. Inès de Raguenel, vice-president of the opposition group Changer Paris, denounced the casual attitude of the local authorities, which she personally experienced during a Paris Council meeting on Tuesday, November 19th, when she was repeatedly interrupted by the mayor, who spoke over her in a contemptuous tone.
Although Catholic private schools have been singled out for high-profile scandals, they have implemented control standards that are far from the norm in state schools. Raguenel has been calling for a public inquiry for months, but her requests have been systematically denied. In an opinion piece published in mid-October in Le Figaro, the elected representative denounced this selective code of silence:
When abuses are exposed, particularly in private or religious institutions, the whole of society mobilises. The media report on these tragedies with an intensity that highlights the seriousness of the facts, and calls for transparency, justice and the questioning of these institutions multiply. Here, however, parents, associations and elected officials are met with a wall of indifference.
Since then, the slate has grown even heavier, and complaints are piling up.
