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Tuesday, 14 December 2010

School siege ends without bloodshed

Tuesday, 14 December 2010

A sword-wielding teenager who took children in a French nursery hostage has been arrested and all the youngsters freed unharmed.

A spokesman for the mayor of Besancon said yesterday the hostage-taking was over and 20 children and their teacher were released safely.

Their 17-year-old captor was detained by a specialist gendarme force.

Besancon Mayor Jean-Louis Fousseret said the boy had been treated for depression but had not taken his medication in recent days.

The mayor did not confirm reports that the youth had requested a gun to commit suicide.

The boy initially seized a class of 20 children but released 14 throughout yesterday morning, including one who “more or less escaped,” said Mr Fousseret.

The incident happened at the Charles Fourier pre-school in Planoise, an area of housing projects with a big immigrant population in Besancon.

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