Three secondary schools in Metz were evacuated on Thursday morning after receiving bomb threats which are believed to have been hoaxes.

According to local newspaper Le Républicain Lorrain, pupils at the Collège Taison and the Collège Arsenal in Metz were evacuated at around 8.40am after receiving e-mails containing bomb threats. Police cordoned off school areas and nearby shops, while several pupils and teachers took refuge in the Metz Conservatoire.

The Collège Jean-Bauchez in Le Ban-Saint-Martin, a suburb of Metz, also received the same e-mail, along with nearby elementary and nursery schools and the town hall.

"These seem like bad hoaxes, but we can't take anything lightly. We must try to identify the perpetrators and punish them. And we certainly need to educate people about the seriousness of these acts in a context of heightened tension and the potential for terrorist acts", said the mayor of Metz, François Grosdidier, in an interview with Le Républicain Lorrain.

Security measures have since been lifted at the two Metz secondary schools, and lessons resumed this afternoon, although some worried parents decided to collect their children.

As for the Collège Jean-Bauchez, lessons were cancelled into the afternoon, although a police sweep found no evidence of a bomb threat.