Teenager loses hand in explosion amid clashes between French schools | News of the demonstrations

A teenager lost a hand in a grenade explosion as the return of school protests in France sparked clashes with police.

The 15-year-old was seriously injured on Monday in Lens, in the north of the country. Unverified police reports indicate he had picked up a stun grenade.

France had announced it would close up to 500 schools as protests against understaffed and poor schools entered their third week. Critics have called on authorities to moderate their response to the protests, amid allegations that disproportionate police force is being used against minors.

The young man, injured near the Auguste-Behal professional high school, was transported to Lille hospital. His days are not in danger, according to the prefect of Pas-de-Calais François-Xavier Lauch.

A police union source reported that the student appeared to have picked up a rubber bullet or “decircling” grenade, fired by riot police, in an attempt to throw it back before it exploded in his hand, the AFP news agency reported.

Prosecutors said investigators have not yet established whether the teen picked up the device or if it fell on him.

They referred the matter to police internal affairs, which is now conducting six investigations into serious injuries that occurred during the student protests.

Education Minister Edouard Geffray called the teenager’s injury “humanly dramatic” but said he would not make further comments until the circumstances were established. He said 190 students had been injured since the protests began.

Scrutiny

The incident in Lens added to the scrutiny of police tactics during the protests. Amnesty International France criticized what it described as disproportionate police force towards minors, saying it was alarmed by reports of students being beaten with batons and subjected to tear gas and rubber bullets known as LBDs.

The human rights group said many of the participants were minors under 18 and called on authorities to ensure police methods were proportionate and consistent with France’s human rights obligations.

Government spokesperson Maud Bregeon told CNews television on Monday that the priority was to “restore order”.

The Ministry of Education indicated that 589 schools were disrupted on Monday, compared to 735 on Friday, according to figures reported by Le Monde. Previous estimates suggested that between 400 and 500 of France’s 3,700 high schools could be fully or partially closed.

Equal right

National protests broke out late last month at a high school in the Paris suburbs against the teacher shortage, before spreading across the country.

Geffray said Sunday that 24 schools were burned or vandalized during the protests, and 78 teachers were injured.

Reporting from a Paris high school, Al Jazeera’s Natacha Butler said students erected a barricade in front of the building’s entrance using trash cans and fencing.

“We have spoken to many students who have come here, and what they say is that they are here to have their demands heard by the government. They say that they are fed up with the lack of teachers and that they often don’t have teachers for subjects like maths and English,” she said.

“They also tell us that they are here to show solidarity with other high school students who are in parts of France that are perhaps poorer and with less adequate facilities or in French overseas territories. They are saying that all young people should have an equal right to education,” Butler added.

Unrest and clashes were reported in several cities on Monday. The BFMTV news channel showed images of clashes between police and students in Lille, tear gas used in Toulouse, in the southwest, and a fire set as people tried to break into a school in central Paris.

Carole Zerbib, principal of the vandalized Vauquelin high school in Paris’s 13th arrondissement, said a “very determined” group wearing balaclavas and masks had attacked her school.

While police and firefighters quickly extinguished the fire and the school was evacuated, suspending classes, Zerbib said it was “very violent and happened very quickly,” adding that the attack lasted 15 to 20 minutes.

Since September 28, around 5,000 people, mostly teenagers, have been arrested across the country and dozens have been injured.

Teachers and citizens were also attacked, while material damage was estimated at tens of millions of euros.

Student unions have called for nationwide protests on Tuesday.