Based on a video circulating on social networks, the national police were accused of having unleashed a dog on the students who had organized the blockade of the César Baggio high school in Lille on Tuesday. However, according to the journalists who covered the event, the dog visible in the video did not belong to the police.

Published on: 02/10/2026 - 19:42

Tuesday September 29, a video filmed near the César Baggio high school in Lille, blocked by its students who are demanding an improvement in their study conditions, provokes indignation. It shows a dog running without a leash among a crowd of fleeing high school students. In the sequence, a student then presents his hand which appears to have been scratched. “It’s the dog!” exclaims one of the high school students.

For Internet users who share the video, the owner of the dog and the person responsible for this supposed bite would have no doubt: “The police unleash dogs on high school students.” This accusation and the video are also shared by the Trotskyist Permanent Revolution party.

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“A dog with a playful mood”

The editorial staff of France 24 Observers, however, interviewed two journalists who covered the blockade of the César Baggio high school. They are categorical: the dog visible in the video was not a police dog.

François Wasson, journalist and editor at France 3 Nord-Pas-de-Calais, concedes that in the confusion of the clashes which took place between the CRS and the high school students, the dog could actually have been mistaken at first for a police dog:

"There were scuffles with the CRS, with a cloud of tear gas. It was a bit of a crush and, all of a sudden, this dog emerged from the smoke, a Malinois dog. And inevitably, the first reflex that we had – that I had and that the high school students had – was to think that it was a police dog, of the CRS who were deployed in numbers, since generally the police have Malinois. We can understand the confusion that was made in view of the surrounding mess and in view of the breed of the dog."

But once the surprise effect had passed, looking at its behavior, it was clear to François Wasson that it was not a law enforcement dog:

"He wasn't a police dog. He wasn't aggressive at all. I would say more scared at first. I have a dog myself, and a dog, when he's scared, he tends to be a little incoherent in his movements - especially since he was free. Then at the end, he even peed near the parking lot. When a high school student came to him to try to coax him, he wasn't aggressive at all. He was rather in a playful mood. I have the impression that he was jumping on the high school students more to play."

A Malinois without a “Police” collar

Baziz Chibane, photographer at La Voix du Nord, took a photo of the fleeing dog. He confirms:

"I knew it wasn't a police dog because in 30 years in the job, I've never seen police officers release dogs. Police officers work for years to, quote unquote, train a dog. It's not about letting it go just like that."

Moreover, the photographer points out, the animal did not wear the regulatory equipment of a police dog: “It was not tied up, did not have a collar or muzzle.”

As confirmed to the France 24 Observers editorial staff by the national police – who denied on

"In the context of urban violence, the dog will always be equipped with a leather muzzle screen-printed "Police", as well as a collar and a leash in the same material. Unless used in very specific circumstances, the interventions of our dogs are carried out on a leash, held by their handler. This is also a fairly characteristic way of identifying a police dog."

Finally, the prefecture of the Hauts-de-France and North region published its own denial on Tuesday on the X network:

"It is in reality a Malinois dog walked by an individual, which escaped the vigilance of its master and panicked during a crowd movement. [...] It is in no way a dog belonging to a team of the national police. No canine team was engaged."

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