Rampaging kids trash French kindergarten

In a scene more reminiscent of a prison movie than a Disney film, around 20 children smashed their way into the Mézereaux Kindergarten with a fire extinguisher before ransacking the facility.

During the rampage involving children aged five to thirteen, the group overturned furniture, splashed the floor and walls with paint, and emptied shelves, Le Parisien newspaper reports.

The pint-sized attackers vandalized several classrooms but displayed particular savagery towards the kindergarten's play area, the paper said.    

Ecole saccagée à Melun: “Pour eux, c'était presque un jeu” http://t.co/94iq5ZY1m3

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Police eventually broke up the party after neighbours reported hearing loud noises.

Speaking after the incident, officials in troubled Melun described the scene as an “apocalyptic landscape”.

“When the door was opened, we saw pots, paints, pencils, books, all thrown to the ground,” mayoral deputy Ségolène Durand told France's BFMTV.

“I won't hide the fact we were pretty shocked because this is a kindergarten. These are objects the children are going to use when they return to school.”

Police have now rounded up 15 children out of a list of suspects totalling 22, and will speak to them in the company of their parents in coming days.

“We hope the town won't have to foot the bill, and would like the vandals to pay for the damage they have done,” the mayor of Melun has said.

Meanwhile one former teacher at the school said he was “not surprised, unfortunately”, by the weekend's events, given the volatile nature of the neighbourhood where the nursery is located.