AKIPRESS.COM - More than 500 male students and staff were to give DNA samples in an unprecedented operation launched Monday to uncover who raped a 16-year-old girl in the toilets of a French school, AFP reported.

The operation, a first for a French school, has raised concerns over rights violations after prosecutors said anyone refusing to submit a sample would be considered a potential suspect.

The collection of samples began as students arrived for morning classes at the Fenelon-Notre Dame high school, a private Catholic school in the southwestern Atlantic port city of La Rochelle.

It was expected to take until Wednesday for the samples to be collected from 475 students, 31 teachers and 21 other staff on site at the time of the rape.
The girl was raped in a toilet at the school on September 30. The lights in the toilet had been turned off and the girl has not been able to identify her attacker.