A 15-year-old protester lost his hand after picking up a police stun grenade in northern France, as nationwide high school demonstrations against dilapidated facilities, teacher shortages, and funding cuts entered their third week and led to over 5,000 arrests.
The intensifying youth movement has forced the closure or partial shutdown of hundreds of schools across France as teenage pupils in their final years of high school block access to buildings and clash with riot police. What began in mid-September as a spontaneous blockade at a high school in a Paris suburb has rapidly expanded into a nationwide flashpoint, spreading from Parisian suburbs to cities including Marseille, Strasbourg, Tours, Nantes, Toulouse, and Lille.
Police Grenade Maims Teenager as Unrest Spreads North
The confrontation reached a critical juncture on Monday in the northern town of Lens, where a 15-year-old student had his hand blown off after picking up a police stun grenade during clashes. François-Xavier Lauch, the local prefect of Pas-de-Calais, confirmed that an investigation into the incident had been opened while roughly 200 to 250 protesters hurled objects at security forces. Interior Minister Laurent Nunez pointed to accusations of brutality against three pupils as security forces deployed tear gas and rubber bullets across multiple regions.
The incident follows a string of severe injuries reported as police departments handle demonstrations involving overturned and burning dustbins, barricades, and blocked tramway tracks. In Tours, the family of a 16-year-old school pupil filed a legal complaint for police violence after he lost sight in his right eye from what state prosecutors noted was an impact consistent with a police rubber bullet. Another young teenager, identified as Eden L., suffered facial injuries when he was shot with a tear-gas grenade at close range, prompting his family to submit an official complaint through their lawyer. Education Minister Edouard Geffray reported that roughly 170 students and at least 65 staff members, including 40 high school principals, had been injured since the unrest began.
Students Demand Action Against Decrepit Facilities and Budgets
Demonstrators have directed their frustration toward deteriorating infrastructure, overcrowded classrooms, and severe staff shortages across the public education system. Protesters have held up placards bearing slogans such as Our address should not decide our future
and highlighted that compulsory school hours in high schools frequently span from 8 a.m. to the early evening.
Union representatives and teachers have echoed the students’ demands. Sophie Binet, the head of the left-wing CGT trade union, criticized the administration for arriving late in offering to tackle these grievances, while organizations such as the Student Union, the High School Trade Union, L’Union Étudiante, and the Union Syndicale Lycéenne called for continued mobilizations. Meanwhile, university students supported the movement by blockading up to 40 university buildings across France.
The unrest has been further inflamed by the unveiling of the government’s draft budget. While the government proposed earmarking funds for schools, students and teachers argue that resources remain inadequate to cope with overflowing classrooms containing up to 35 pupils each.
Authorities Launch Arrests and Blame Over Property Damage
As between 400 and 500 high schools remained completely or partly closed, and education was disrupted at more than 560 out of 3,700 establishments, government officials vowed a firm response while condemning widespread property damage. Education Minister Édouard Geffray stated that the student movement was being held hostage by ultra-violent fringe groups and that more than 100 high schools had suffered severe damage, with 24 schools burned or ransacked. In Paris, Carole Zerbib, head of the vandalized Lycée Vauquelin, described how a determined group wearing hoods and masks forced an evacuation by trying to break through entrance doors and lighting a fire.
Interior ministry figures show that police have detained more than 5,000 people since the movement began, with approximately 85% of those arrested being minors. Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin announced that he had asked prosecutors to hold parents liable for damage caused by their children during the protests and make them pay for repairs wherever possible. In the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis, regional tensions flared further after local mayor Bally Bagayoko remarked that violence can sometimes be legitimate, prompting Valérie Pécresse, president of the Île-de-France region, to vow to invoice the mayor for the 100,000-euro cost of repairing damage at the Lycée Paul Éluard.
