A former teacher who took 21 people hostage today in a school in France has surrendered to police.
The 33-year-old man had barricaded the pupils aged 17 to 18, a teacher and two other adults into a classroom, and demanded to talk to the media and former education minister Francois Fillon about his inability to find work.
Local officials said the situation ended peacefully and there were no injuries to staff or students.
Earlier, a school employee has said the man had promised not to harm the students.
Police cordoned off the area around the Colbert de Torcy High School in Sable-sur-Sarthe, outside Le Mans, the city famed for its 24-hour annual car race some 140 miles south-west of Paris. Prosecutor Jean Elek informed families of students held hostage of the situation, Le Mans court officials said.
However, an employee, named as Bernadette Mercier who is receptionist at the school, said the hostage-taker said he would not harm the students.
Mercier said the 33-year-old former teacher had found no work and was very depressed. She said he told school personnel that he did not intend to harm the students.
School officials allowed him to enter because they knew him, she said. Sable-sur-Sarthe, where the school is located, is 27 miles from Le Mans.