Police in Brest seized “trombinoscopes” from several high schools, collecting names, first names and photos of nearly 4,500 students during an investigation into violence during a student protest. The prosecutor’s office said two police officers in plain clothes visited the school administration at three sites in the Kerichen school complex, the centre of the student unrest in the second Brittany city. The seizure followed clashes near the Brest police station on 17 October. In a statement, the prosecutor said 58 police officers were physically injured, with some cases leading to up to 45 days of total incapacity to work. The office also said about 200 mostly young people attacked police officers very violently. The prosecutor said the officers acted under a judicial requisition to obtain the students’ identity data and photos. The prosecutor added that the measures were not intended as “profiling” and were meant to preserve evidence “for and against,” with only information that links specific identified people to the alleged offences kept in the procedure. The investigation focuses on aggravated violence allegedly committed in a group by people with weapons with faces disguised, offences punishable by up to 10 years in prison. Several unions, parents and students criticised the operation and said they planned to contact the French data protection authority.