France has suspended the use of stun grenades by police at student-led demonstrations, the interior minister announced, after a wave of high-school protests escalated into some of the country's most violent education unrest in decades.
The move followed mounting criticism of injuries to minors. On October 5, a 15-year-old student lost his hand when a police stun grenade exploded during clashes between protesters and officers in the northern town of Lens. A local prosecutor said it had not been definitively established whether the teenager picked up the grenade or whether it was thrown at him, and an investigation was assigned to France's police watchdog, the IGPN.
In a separate case, a police officer was charged on October 6 with violence for firing a tear-gas grenade at close range at a 14-year-old student in Saint-Ouen-l'Aumône, northwest of Paris. The boy, named in French media as Eden, lost most of his teeth and suffered a fractured jaw requiring surgery. The officer said he acted in response to the student's resistance, but the Pontoise prosecutor said the conditions for self-defence were not met because the firing lacked proportionality.
Hundreds of thousands march
On Tuesday, October 6, more than 250,000 people demonstrated across France in support of high-school students demanding more education funding. The Interior Ministry estimated the turnout at 266,000, including 56,000 in Paris, while student organisers put the figure at 450,000, with 100,000 in the capital. The discrepancy between official and organiser counts has not been independently resolved.
Police fired tear gas to control crowds in Paris and other cities, and small groups of protesters clashed with riot officers at the end of a largely peaceful march in the capital. Clashes were also reported in Lyon, Marseille and Rennes, where water cannon was used. Nearly 500 people were detained on Tuesday alone, according to the Interior Ministry.
Disputed accounts of the violence
Government officials say the protests — which began in mid-September at the Lycée Saint-Exupéry in Créteil, a suburb of Paris, over teacher shortages and deteriorating school conditions — have been hijacked by outside troublemakers and turned into urban violence requiring a firm police response. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said the police response had been proportionate in "almost all cases."
Student unions, teachers and human-rights organisations strongly disagree. Amnesty International said tear-gas grenades had been "discharged recklessly" and called on authorities to stop what it described as a disproportionate response. France's Human Rights League accused security forces of a "global deviation from the rule of law" during interventions involving school students.
The toll so far
Since the protests began, more than 6,000 people have been arrested — the large majority of them minors — and hundreds have been injured. Government figures cited at least 215 students, dozens of school staff and more than 700 police officers among the wounded. Classes were fully or partially suspended at roughly 891 of France's 3,700 schools.
The unrest has also drawn in foreign commentators. US President Donald Trump claimed on Truth Social that the protests were driven by "out-of-control mass migration" and Islam rather than students' educational grievances. He provided no evidence for the claim, which does not correspond to the documented origins of the movement in complaints about teacher shortages, overcrowded classrooms and dilapidated buildings.
What is confirmed, and what is not
Confirmed: two teenagers suffered severe injuries in incidents involving police riot-control weapons; one officer has been charged; stun grenades have been suspended at student demonstrations; and hundreds of thousands of people have marched across France.
Unknown: the exact circumstances of the Lens grenade explosion, which remains under investigation, along with multiple other cases of alleged police violence referred to the IGPN. The precise size of Tuesday's turnout also remains disputed between official and organiser estimates.
Awaited: student groups have called further demonstrations for Thursday, and the government has ordered ministers to address students' demands by the end of October. It remains unclear whether the suspension of stun grenades will be extended or made permanent.