Two to be charged for fatal stabbing of Paris school student

Two teenagers were to appear in a Paris court Thursday over the fatal stabbing of a 17-year-old outside his school in Paris.

Two young women hug at the scene of the murder AFP

One of the youths, a 17-year-old, has confessed to stabbing the school student near the Charles-de-Gaulle high school in the 20th arrondissement of Paris on Monday.

The second suspect, who is 16, handed himself over to the police on Wednesday afternoon and was detained.

The Paris public prosecutor's office opened a judicial investigation for "murder and complicity in murder".

The victim, identified in the press as Madiara, had never had any dealings with the police and his friends described him as "nice and always smiling", according to l'Express magazine.

One of them told the weekly that the attack was not drug-related but connected to a long-running feud between gangs from different estates and that Madiara was murdered simply because he was outside the school when his assailants arrived.

Residents of the area report that police intervened to stop youths fighting in the street soon after the incident.

Programme to fight violence in schools

Violence in schools is of increasing concern in France.

The government is to spend an extra 37 million euros this year on beefing up security in schools and training pupils on how to react in case violent intrusions.

Older pupils are also to receive first-aid training.