France suspends stun grenades after 15-year-old loses hand at student protest
France's interior minister Laurent Nuñez suspended police use of stun grenades at high-school protests after a 15-year-old's hand was torn off in Lens, a case the government says remains unclear. Over 500 schools were still fully or partially shut as the wave of protests, now more than two weeks old, continued, with unions planning a fourth day of marches on Thursday. Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu promised proposals by late October but gave no details, and the protests are unfolding months before a presidential election in April.
Bottom line — Student unions say 450,000 protesters marched while the government counts 250,000, and Lecornu's promised proposals are not due until the end of October.
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Nuñez said 18 investigations into police conduct have been opened, while the government also cited 6,600 arrests and more than 200 students and 700 police officers injured, according to figures from the interior ministry.
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The Irish Times and Reuters both report that the government has little spare cash to address teacher shortages and ageing buildings, since it is under pressure to tame public debt amid weak growth.
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Reuters, citing the OECD's PISA rankings, reports that French 15-year-olds scored 43 points lower in reading in 2025 than in 2015, the largest drop among OECD countries, a figure students cite in their protests.
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Education Minister Édouard Geffray said 24 schools were damaged by fire or vandalism and would stay closed for weeks, affecting 30,000 pupils; Reuters puts the repair cost at €20 million to €30 million ($22 million to $34 million).
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Marine Le Pen, the frontrunner in opinion polls according to Reuters, said those who damaged schools should pay for repairs rather than taxpayers, a stance the government has also taken in a bill now before parliament.
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An Elabe poll for BFM TV found 72% of French people consider the students' demands legitimate, but 55% want the protests to stop, according to Reuters.
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Fox News reported that 87% of the more than 5,000 arrested were minors, with 1,483 minors among the 1,800-plus people being prosecuted, citing the Justice Ministry.
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Police union UNSA's Jean-Paul Nascimento told FranceInfo that the suspension was based 'on emotion' and warned that without the weapon there could be more close-quarters clashes, according to his comments in the BBC report.
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Al Jazeera notes that a 14-year-old lost several teeth after being hit by a tear gas grenade, and a policeman has been charged over the incident in Paris, as reported by the outlet.
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In Belgium, at least 107 people have been arrested in Liège in connection with student protests this month, the Belga news agency reported, while in Portugal FENPROF has been on indefinite strike since mid-September.