Thousands of students were evacuated from five high schools in Paris on Tuesday morning after receiving a bomb threat over the telephone as anonymous calls were made claiming bombs had been hidden in the buildings, the Paris education authority said.

The five schools received practically identical calls between 10:20 am and 11:20 am, police added.

Students at Charlemagne, Fenelon, Montaigne, Condorcet, Henri IV and Louis le Grand schools, all in up-market districts of Paris, were moved to secure areas while police carried out searches.

“An individual threatened to blow up bags in several lycées. Searches were carried out at the five schools but nothing was found,” a police source said.

Reports said that just as the threats were made, the headteacher of Henry IV discovered a suspect package, yet after being tested by a bomb squad nothing was found.

With Paris still on high alert after the November 13 terror attacks, Tuesday’s threats were taken seriously.