Was in a coma for a short time

France: Teenagers beat schoolgirl almost to death

In front of this school in Montpellier, the girl was beaten up and critically injured by three youths.(Bild: APA/AFP/Pascal Guyot)

A brutal attack on a schoolgirl in Montpellier has shaken France. The girl was beaten up and critically injured by three youths outside her school. One of the victim's 14-year-old classmates has already confessed to beating her.

Education Minister Nicole Belloubet said on Thursday on BFMTV: "There are no words to describe the shock we have all felt." The 13 or 14-year-old victim had experienced unbelievable violence. "This is absolutely inexcusable and abhorrent."

The minister said she wanted to know everything about the months, weeks and hours leading up to the attack. An inter-ministerial inspection body will be carrying out investigations at the college from Friday. President Emmanuel Macron also said that nothing justifies the attack by peers. He expressed his solidarity with the girl and her family.

Girl temporarily in a coma
The Montpellier public prosecutor's office announced that a schoolgirl had been beaten up by three people outside her school on Tuesday afternoon. The girl, who was critically injured, was temporarily in a coma. A 14-year-old classmate has since confessed to beating the girl. Two other teenagers aged 14 and 15 have been arrested.

School advised mother to pick up daughter
The mother of the girl who was attacked told BFMTV that the arrested classmate had targeted her daughter and bullied her. The school had warned her on Tuesday that youths were waiting for her daughter outside the school grounds and that she should pick her up. However, despite her request, they did not wait for her to arrive but let her daughter leave school early.

At around 4 p.m., the youths pounced on her daughter, threw her to the ground and kicked her hard, the victim's mother reported, citing eyewitnesses. The perpetrators then fled, she said.