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As a result of the fire, self-proclaimed Maoist French university students rioted in Grenoble, smashing windows, throwing Molotov cocktails and threatening a number of local officials with lynching. As a mass funeral was held for the fire's victims, the French government suspended Saint-Laurent-du-Pont's mayor and the prefecture secretary-general of the Alpine department of Isère where the town is situated. Five mayors from neighboring towns resigned in protest against the suspensions, and a Deputy from Isère, Aime Paquet, rose in the National Assembly and urged: "Let the dead sleep in peace." France-Soir answered him in a frontpage editorial: "We are not trying to disturb the dead," it said. "We want only to wake up the living."