2023-09-13 18:10:00
Justice opened an investigation on Wednesday for “arson”, following fires broke out during the night in four schools targeted by opponents of the EVRAS sex education course.
The 4 establishments concerned are located in the territory of Charleroi. These are the Ecole Nord, rue Gatti de Gamond in Charleroi, the L’Hublinbu school and the Petite Chenevière school in Marcinelle and the Fond Jacques school in Couillet. Small basic and municipal schools. In the four schools, entries hostile to the school program, just officially adopted by decree, were discovered, said Vincent Fiasse, the king’s prosecutor in charge of the investigation.
“NO EVRAS”, mentioned black inscriptions on several walls. An acronym which refers to “Education for relational, emotional and sexual life”, a two-hour course per year for two age groups intended to answer students’ questions on these sensitive subjects.
But since the start of the school year, the program has sparked a revolt on social networks and calls to demonstrate from ultra-conservative circles. Caroline Désir, the French-speaking Minister of Education, denounced “a disinformation campaign” intended according to her to “stirring up suspicion” et “scare parents. “We are obviously not going to encourage hyper-sexualization among young people, nor create a sexual orientation or gender identity. I read that we were going to ‘teach children to masturbate’, it’s completely unacceptable to scare parents on this subject”declared Ms. Désir last week.
On Wednesday his office refused to comment on the acts of vandalism in Charleroi. But the mayor Paul Magnette, who is also president of the Socialist Party, castigated “a form of terrorism”, “barbaric acts”and promised that the police would “the maximum to find the author(s) of this infamy”. On the X network (formerly Twitter) he mentioned four “attempted arson, praising the rapid intervention of the firefighters which made it possible to limit the damage.
The “Evras” course, presented by Ms. Désir as “an animation” of two hours by approved external speakers, concerns students in the sixth level of primary school (11-12 years old) and those in the fourth level of secondary school (15-16 years old). Mandatory since 2012, it was not systematically insured until then due to lack of resources. His goal is to “reassure students regarding questions they ask themselves during puberty” and to “protect from potentially dangerous or problematic situations”, insisted the minister quoting “sexism, sexual violence, gender stereotypes.
Also read Sexual identity, sexting: this guide intended for schools, from nursery schools onwards, presents “a risk of psychological intrusion”, according to a child psychiatrist
This is unspeakable barbarism.
The mayor of Charleroi Paul Magnette and the Carole alderwoman for Education Julie Patte took stock Wednesday morning of the situation following the fires caused during the night in four Carole schools. According to them, the establishments have avoided the worst but the psychological impact on the teaching teams is very significant.
“If the damage is limited, we have missed the worst because some of these schools have janitorial services,” said Julie Patte.
In the eyes of the municipal authorities, there is little doubt regarding the political nature of the fires given the presence of “no Evras” tags, in reference to Education for relational, emotional and sexual life, found on site.
On Wednesday morning, the Charleroi public prosecutor’s office had already taken up the case, requesting a series of investigative tasks.
“For the teaching teams who are particularly affected by the symbolic value of such acts, we requested the intervention of the Mobile Teams service, a system which exists at the level of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation and which can intervene in the event of a critical situation like this to support staff and enable them to be able to welcome the children back and explain to them what happened.”said Julie Patte.
“This is unspeakable barbarism, acts of absolute seriousness. Attacking public freedoms in this way is a form of terrorism,” declared Mayor Paul Magnette on the Hublinbu school website.
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