OMEN
03-09-2006, 06:30 PM
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/41421000/gif/_41421458_france_sable_sur_map203.gif
A former teacher has taken at least 18 students and two adults hostage at a school in France.
The man, who is armed with a handgun, is holding the hostages at a school in Sable-sur-Sarthe in western France.
The 33-year-old man has been out of work since losing his job as a supply teacher at the school two years ago.
Police have surrounded the building and officers are negotiating with the man, who has barricaded himself and the hostages in a classroom.
He looked normal when he walked in... We let him in because we knew who he was
School receptionist
The man reportedly entered the school during the afternoon. The students are said to be aged 16 to 18 and are being held in a classroom on an upper floor.
A police official said the hostage-taker "wants to talk to the press about his employment problems".
The man had asked to speak to the former French education minister and local mayor Francois Fillon, who is the architect of a controversial education reform programme, police said.
A receptionist at the Colbert de Torcy secondary school told the BBC News website: "He looked normal when he walked in... We let him in because we knew who he was."
She said he was not known to be violent.
"He had a sense of humour," said the receptionist, Bernadette Mercier.
She added: "He was very depressed when he left two years ago."
The school has now been evacuated, and crisis centres for parents and students have been set up.
French special forces are reported to be en route from Paris to the scene.
BBC
A former teacher has taken at least 18 students and two adults hostage at a school in France.
The man, who is armed with a handgun, is holding the hostages at a school in Sable-sur-Sarthe in western France.
The 33-year-old man has been out of work since losing his job as a supply teacher at the school two years ago.
Police have surrounded the building and officers are negotiating with the man, who has barricaded himself and the hostages in a classroom.
He looked normal when he walked in... We let him in because we knew who he was
School receptionist
The man reportedly entered the school during the afternoon. The students are said to be aged 16 to 18 and are being held in a classroom on an upper floor.
A police official said the hostage-taker "wants to talk to the press about his employment problems".
The man had asked to speak to the former French education minister and local mayor Francois Fillon, who is the architect of a controversial education reform programme, police said.
A receptionist at the Colbert de Torcy secondary school told the BBC News website: "He looked normal when he walked in... We let him in because we knew who he was."
She said he was not known to be violent.
"He had a sense of humour," said the receptionist, Bernadette Mercier.
She added: "He was very depressed when he left two years ago."
The school has now been evacuated, and crisis centres for parents and students have been set up.
French special forces are reported to be en route from Paris to the scene.
BBC