Teenager loses hand as French student protests escalate

In short:

A 15-year-old student has lost a hand picking up a police grenade as part of nationwide protests in France over classroom conditions.

The demonstrations have disrupted lessons at hundreds of schools since last week.

What's next?

A day of larger protests is expected on Tuesday, local time.

A 15-year-old protesting against France's dilapidated and understaffed schools has had his hand blown off in the northern town of Lens, officials say.

A police union source said the teenager appeared to have picked up a sting-ball grenade fired by riot police and that it exploded in his hand.

The local prefect François-Xavier Lauch said an investigation into the incident, on Monday, local time, had been opened.

A nationwide day of demonstrations is expected on Tuesday.

The protests began in late September at a high school in a Paris suburb over teacher shortages before spreading across France.

"Our priority is to restore order," government spokeswoman Maud Bregeon said on Monday.

Education Minister Edouard Geffray said that 24 schools had been burned or ransacked and that 78 teaching staff had been injured since the beginning of the demonstrations.

Police and students clash, tear gas used

On Monday, the news channel BFMTV showed images of police and students clashing in Lille in northern France, tear gas being used in Toulouse in the southwest and of a fire being lit as people tried to break into a school in central Paris.

Carole Zerbib, head of the vandalised Lycee Vauquelin in the 13th district of Paris, said her school had been attacked by a "very determined" group wearing hoods and masks who tried to break through the school's entrance door and then lit a fire.

Police and firefighters quickly put out the fire and the school was evacuated and classes suspended.

"It was very violent and happened very quickly," she said, adding that the attack lasted 15-20 minutes.

"It was terrible for students who witnessed this outburst of violence," she said, adding those behind the attack on her school were not students of the school.

Since last Monday, around 5,000 people, mostly teenagers, have been arrested nationwide and dozens injured.

Teachers and members of the public have been attacked, while damage to property is estimated in the tens of millions of euros.

Ms Bregeon said the French government would fast-track a bill in parliament on October 27 to make those found to have damaged property during protests financially liable.

Paris police chief Patrice Faure, in an open letter published on X on Saturday, said those who had launched the protests no longer controlled them and called on students to abandon blockades in favour of peaceful protest.

Student unions have nevertheless called for a national day of demonstrations on Tuesday.

Security officials fear that an organised protest in central Paris in particular could see further violence amid concerns that far-left and anarchist groups could try to take over the protests.

CGT union head Sophie Binet said on Monday that union members will attend Tuesday's demonstrations "to protect high school students."

"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," she said.

Reuters/AFP