A 15-year-old boy lost a hand on Monday in Lens, a former mining town in northern France, after a projectile he had picked up exploded during a high school protest. He is being treated in a hospital in Lille and is out of danger, according to Francois-Xavier Lauch, the prefect (the state's local representative) for the Pas-de-Calais region. French media and a police union source said the object was a riot police stun or sting-ball grenade, a device designed to disorient crowds with a loud bang and flash. Reports say the teenager may have been trying to throw it back when it went off.
The prefect said the protest in Lens turned into rioting, although the trigger was unclear. He said a group of 200 to 250 secondary school students threw stones, fireworks and mortars at officers, and riot police were deployed to regain control.
The incident is part of a wave of student demonstrations that began on September 17 at a school in Creteil, a suburb of Paris, in support of striking teachers. The movement has since spread nationwide. Students are protesting over teacher shortages and absences, oversized classes, overloaded timetables, and dilapidated buildings that are poorly suited to rising temperatures. More than 500 of France's 3,700 lycees (upper secondary schools) were fully or partially closed on Monday, according to the education minister, and 589 schools were affected by protests.
The human toll is mounting. The government says 215 students and 715 police officers have been injured, and the police watchdog has opened 10 investigations. A 16-year-old seriously injured in Tours last week has lost the use of an eye. Meanwhile, a 17-year-old in Aix-en-Provence has been arrested for throwing a stone that hit a passer-by, who may lose her sight, and a 16-year-old in La Ciotat has been detained on suspicion of dousing a teacher with petrol. Authorities say 24 schools have been burned or ransacked and more than 5,000 people, 87 percent of them minors, have been arrested. In Paris, masked youths set fire to a school entrance, and pupils were kept inside for two hours.
The French Human Rights League has accused security forces of disproportionate methods against protesters, many of them minors. A France 24 expert questioned the state's response, saying France is in effect maiming young people. The government rejects the idea that it is ignoring the problems: Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu has urged local authorities to fill teaching gaps and called a meeting with regional presidents on renovating school buildings. It also accuses hard-left activists of hijacking the movement and is backing a bill that would make those who damage public property pay for repairs. Government spokeswoman Maud Bregeon raised the question of parental responsibility. Students counter that their anger has built for years.
Unrest has also spread to Belgium, where dozens of arrests were made in Liege, Charleroi and Arlon. A larger day of action, called "Act III" by a student union, is expected on Tuesday, with calls on social media for a "black week". The protests come months before the 2027 presidential election.