French president Nicolas Sarkozy narrowly missed getting hit by a plastic bottle thrown by a pupil during a visit to combat school violence today.
Mr Sarkozy was at a middle school in a problem zone in Beauvais, northwest of Paris. As he explained measures to crack down on delinquency, the pupil tossed the bottle, which lightly brushed the president.
Mr Sarkozy did not flinch.
The school's deputy head, Jerome Rochard, said it was unclear who from the crowd of 500 had thrown the bottle.
Among Mr Sarkozy's hotly contested measures are plans to create school boot camps for defiant pupils aged between 13 and 16 and suspend family subsidies to parents whose children skip school.
AP