A 15-year-old student protesting in the northern French town of Lens had his hand blown off on Monday after picking up a police stun grenade, according to the local prefect, François-Xavier Lauch. The incident occurred amid nationwide school blockades that have left hundreds of schools fully or partly closed.
Local newspaper La Voix du Nord reported that the teenager lost his hand after picking up the grenade. Lauch said an investigation into the incident had been opened.
Government response to student demands
Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu had earlier attempted to calm the protests by accepting schoolchildren’s grievances as “legitimate” and saying the government must listen. He ordered ministers to tackle students’ five major demands, including organising the replacement of absent teachers, a review of France’s lengthy school days, and repairs to dilapidated school buildings.
Students on blockades across France have described water leaking into classrooms, cockroaches, collapsing ceilings, and unbearable heat in summer. Lecornu said ministers must come up with proposals by the end of the month.
Union criticism and planned marches
Sophie Binet, head of the leftwing CGT trade union, said the government was late in offering to tackle the schoolchildren’s demands. She said the number of absent teachers who were not replaced had doubled in 10 years and class sizes were at a record high. “Amid such anger, a few measures just for show aren’t going to satisfy demands,” Binet said, calling for the government to stop all budget cuts and cuts to teachers’ positions.
Student unions have called for a national day of protest on Tuesday, with thousands of trade unionists, teachers, public sector workers and parents’ groups expected to join marches of support across France. Binet criticised heavy policing, saying, “We’ve been appalled by what we have seen over the past 10 days and by the unprecedented crackdown that the government has organised against the protests by high school students.”
Widespread closures and injuries
University students continued to support the school protests, with up to 40 university buildings blockaded across France. Philippe Baptiste, the minister for higher education, told French radio he felt protests could intensify with the national protests on Tuesday. Between 400 and 500 high schools are expected to remain completely or partly closed on Monday out of a total of 3,700, the education minister said.
The protests began in late September at a high school in a Paris suburb over teacher shortages, spreading nationwide amid anger at social inequality and a lack of investment in education. Since last Monday, about 5,000 people, mostly teenagers, have been arrested across France and dozens injured. The family of a 16-year-old pupil in Tours has filed a complaint for police violence after he lost sight in his right eye; the state prosecutor said the boy’s injuries were consistent with the impact of a police rubber bullet. A police investigation is under way. Teachers have also been injured, and damage to property is estimated in the tens of millions of euros.
