France has suspended the use of stun grenades during high-school demonstrations after a 15-year-old boy lost a hand in a police operation in the northern city of Lens, intensifying scrutiny of the authorities’ handling of a nationwide student protest movement.
Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez announced the temporary suspension on Wednesday, saying the measure would remain in place while authorities establish exactly what happened during Monday’s confrontation outside a secondary school in Lens.
The decision comes amid mounting criticism from students, rights groups and political opponents over allegations that police have used excessive force against young demonstrators during weeks of protests over deteriorating school conditions.
The teenager was seriously injured when a grenade exploded during clashes between protesters and riot police. Authorities have said the boy picked up a police grenade after it was deployed, while accounts from protesters have disputed aspects of the incident and questioned how the device was used. The circumstances remain under investigation.
The case has become a focal point in the wider debate over police tactics as the demonstrations spread across France and increasingly draw in parents, university students and trade unions.
Nuñez said the Inspectorate General of the National Police, IGPN, had opened 18 investigations into police conduct during the demonstrations, including efforts to determine whether officers used proportionate force.
The protests continued into Wednesday, with more than 500 schools fully or partially disrupted as students maintained blockades and demonstrations in several parts of the country. The unrest has already forced the closure of hundreds of schools and caused significant damage to educational facilities.
Education Minister Édouard Geffray told the National Assembly that 24 schools had been set on fire or vandalised so severely that they would remain closed for several weeks, affecting about 30,000 pupils.
The demonstrations intensified on Tuesday, when more than 250,000 people took part in protests nationwide, according to authorities, with students joined by teachers, parents and other supporters. In several cities, police deployed tear gas and water cannon as clashes broke out. The Interior Ministry reported 488 arrests and 43 injured members of the security forces during the day.
The movement began in September amid complaints about overcrowded classrooms, shortages of teachers, deteriorating school infrastructure and wider inequalities in the education system. What began largely as student-led action has since developed into a broader national mobilisation involving education workers, parents and organised labour.
The scale of the disruption has placed Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu’s government under increasing pressure to address the students’ concerns while containing the violence that has accompanied some of the demonstrations.
Lecornu is expected to address the country on Wednesday evening as the government seeks to respond to the growing unrest and prevent further escalation.
The government has acknowledged the legitimacy of concerns surrounding school conditions while insisting that violence, vandalism and attacks on security personnel will not be tolerated.
The suspension of stun grenades represents the latest government response to mounting questions over police tactics. The Lens incident has particularly intensified scrutiny because of the severity of the teenager’s injuries and the conflicting accounts surrounding the circumstances of the explosion.
Police have continued to argue that officers face significant risks during some demonstrations, where protesters have thrown objects, damaged property and clashed with security forces. At the same time, critics have demanded greater restraint when policing demonstrations involving minors.
The unrest has now become one of France’s most significant youth protest movements in years, with the disruption extending well beyond school gates and into major cities across the country.
For the government, the immediate challenge is to restore calm while addressing longstanding concerns over the state of public education and ensuring that the policing of demonstrations does not further inflame tensions.
With schools still disrupted and further mobilisation possible, pressure is mounting on French authorities to establish accountability over the Lens incident and provide a clear response to the wider demands driving the protests.
