Videos filmed during student protests in France have captured young people singing a rap track referencing jihadists responsible for deadly Islamic terrorist attacks in Toulouse and Paris, prompting criminal investigations into suspected apology for terrorism.
The song, “MRH” by French rapper BORO700, mentions Mohamed Merah, who murdered a teacher and three children at a Jewish school in Toulouse in 2012, and Salah Abdeslam, who was convicted for his role in the November 2015 Islamic State (ISIS) attacks in Paris that killed 130 people.
One video circulating on social media shows students singing the track during a school blockade at Francois-Villon high school in Beaugency, in the Loiret region of France, on 1 October 2026. The footage has drawn attention to the presence of lyrics referencing Islamic extremist violence during the French student protests, which have become the subject of a wider political debate over the country’s future.
The Orleans prosecutor’s office opened a preliminary investigation into suspected “apology for terrorism” after the video emerged. Three minors were placed in police custody on 7 October 2026, according to French media reports citing the prosecutor.
The investigation concerns the song’s lyrics and their circulation during the French student protest, with the suspected offence relating to publicly presenting or justifying Islamic terrorism or portraying terrorist acts and their perpetrators favourably.
In the video from Francois-Villon high school, students can be heard shouting French lyrics translated into English as: “Like Mohamed Merah, dodging the cameras,” and “Bataclan, I shot him with my eyes, manhunt, Salah Abdeslam”. The references have attracted attention because they invoke two figures associated with some of the deadliest Islamic extremist attacks in modern French history.
Rap references Mohamed Merah, Salah Abdeslam and Bataclan massacre
Between 11 March and 19 March 2012, Mohamed Merah, a French Muslim citizen of Algerian origin, carried out a series of jihadist attacks in Toulouse and Montauban. He killed seven people, including two soldiers, a rabbi and three Jewish children aged three, five and eight.
The attack at a Jewish school in Toulouse killed a teacher and three children, making the incident a defining episode in France’s struggle against jihadist terrorism. Merah had used a GoPro camera to record his attacks, producing footage set to music and verses from the Qur’an.
Rioters at French high school in Beaugency chant lyrics to Boro700’s MRH – a rap song which glorifies the ISIS terrorist attack on the Bataclan as well as a jihadist terrorist who executed an 8 year old French Jewish girl by shooting her in the head.
Lyrics: “Bataclan, they… pic.twitter.com/0ML6FElkNJ
— Drew Pavlou 🇦🇺🇺🇸🇺🇦🇹🇼 (@DrewPavlou) October 7, 2026
The song “MRH” also refers to Salah Abdeslam, the only surviving member of the 10-man ISIS cell responsible for the November 2015 jihadist attacks in Paris. Those attacks killed 130 people and injured more than 490. The deadliest assault took place at the Bataclan, a historic theatre and concert hall where 90 people were killed.
BORO700 is also scheduled to appear before a Paris court on 21 October 2026 on charges including apology for terrorism, apology for a crime against humanity and conditional death threats, Le Parisien reported, citing the Paris prosecutor’s office. That case concerns the rapper and is separate from the investigations into videos featuring young people during the French student protests.
Church video and political debate over France student protests
The same rap track appeared in another video filmed inside Saint-Hilaire church in Soullans, western France, on 4 October 2026. The incident was separate from the student protest at Francois-Villon high school. The municipality said the young people involved were minors and urged residents not to share the footage, warning that its circulation could expose them and inflame tensions. The prosecutor’s office in La Roche-sur-Yon said investigations were underway.
The videos have surfaced amid a politically charged debate over the nationwide French student protests. Some social media accounts have attempted to portray the demonstrations as a warning about immigration and political change in the West, connecting the incidents to wider arguments about Islamic extremism and immigration in France.
US President Donald Trump addressed the unrest in a post on Truth Social, writing: “What’s happening in France is nothing less than out-of-control mass migration. This isn’t about schools; this is about Islam wanting to take over a once great country!”.
The videos have entered the broader political debate over France’s student protests, immigration and Islamic extremism. Addressing parliament, French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu accused the left-wing La France Insoumise (LFI) party of seeking to “sow chaos” ahead of presidential elections scheduled in seven months.
The controversy surrounding the rap, the school blockade and the separate church incident has consequently become part of a wider dispute over the direction of French politics and the nature of the nationwide protests.
