A 15-year-old student lost his hand and part of his lower arm on Monday morning after picking up a police dispersal grenade during clashes between high-school protesters and riot police in Lens, northern France — the most serious injury yet in a third week of nationwide school protests.
The incident happened at around 10 a.m. in front of the Auguste-Béhal high school in Lens, Pas-de-Calais. According to prefect François-Xavier Lauch, more students had gathered than on previous days, and some 200 to 250 protesters were hurling objects at police, prompting riot police to deploy. A 17-year-old witness told Le Monde that riot police threw grenades twice: "After the explosion, he kept running. He didn't realize" he was injured right away. Testimonies suggest the device may have been a GM2L grenade, a type known to have caused mutilations before — in Rouen in 2023, a protester lost her thumb after a grenade exploded near her. A police union source said the teen appeared to have picked up a sting-ball grenade fired by riot police, and that it exploded in his hand.
Béthune prosecutor Etienne Thieffry said on Monday he could not yet confirm whether the teenager picked up the grenade or whether it landed on him. He assigned the investigation to the Inspectorate General of National Police (IGPN) for "violence resulting in mutilation and permanent disability." The prefect declined to comment on the exact circumstances.
The protest wave began on September 17 over dilapidated buildings, teacher shortages and absences, overcrowded classrooms and long school days, with students blockading hundreds of high schools. Education Minister Edouard Geffray said Monday evening that 190 students have been injured since the protests began, with the most serious injuries occurring during law-enforcement interventions. The Justice Ministry says more than 5,000 people have been arrested, 85% to 87% of them minors; over 1,800 face prosecution, including 1,483 minors. About two dozen schools have been burned or ransacked, with damage estimated at up to €30 million; some 80 teachers and staff and hundreds of police officers have been injured. Geffray said 589 lycées were affected by disturbances on Monday, down from 735 on Friday, but 400 to 500 of France's roughly 3,700 lycées remained closed as a preventive measure.
The French Human Rights League (LDH) on Monday accused security forces of using disproportionate methods against protesters, most of them minors — including batons, tear gas and flash-ball guns. "We can see that in the instructions given to the police, there is no directive to show restraint, even though they are dealing with children," said LDH president Nathalie Tehio. Authorities are separately examining the case of a 16-year-old who suffered an eye injury after police fired rubber bullets into a crowd. The unrest comes six months before elections to replace President Emmanuel Macron; the government and the far-right National Rally accuse the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) of stoking the protests, a charge LFI denies. The incident occurred on the eve of a national demonstration called by the pupils' union for Tuesday, raising fears of further escalation.