At least four people have been injured, including two seriously, during a fight involving an axe on a suburban train near Paris, according to a police source.
One of the victims had a hand severed and another had their skull split open, the source added, asking not to be named. Several people, some of them minors, were involved in the fight that broke out around around 8:00 am (0700 GMT) Monday, the source told AFP.
A spokesperson for the Île-de-France police union told TV network BFMTV that the victims are "extremely young individuals".
Reda Belhaj addressed their ages and said: “What is frightening is the age of the victims (...) they are extremely young individuals, who according to the descriptions, are the age of middle school students.”
Former member of European parliament Gilbert Collard claimed on X that “it’s becoming increasingly crazy and dangerous to survive in France.”
The incident occurred at the Ozoir-la-Ferrière station on the RER suburban express train line, located southeast of Paris. The line runs east-west through Paris and its surrounding suburbs, according to SNCF, the state rail operator.
A warning for travel disruption has been issued. Posting on X, train operator RER E said: “An incident on board the TUVA train currently at the platform at Ozoir station is forcing us to keep the train at the platform.”
They added: “The police wish to continue their investigation at the railway level before completely restoring traffic to us. Traffic will remain disrupted until the end of the police investigation.”
