French Police Will Not Use Stun Grenades After High-School Protester Loses Hand

The government has announced that France is suspending the use of stun grenades by the police at the ongoing high school protests demanding more teachers and adequate facilities at the schools. The move comes amid accusations of police brutality against protesters.

Interior minister Laurent Nuñez told RTL radio on Wednesday that he ordered a halt to the use of grenades. He explained that the decision was taken, “in the context of the high-school students’ movement.”

He further added that the IGPN, the French police watchdog, has opened 18 investigations to investigate if officers were "proportionate" during the protests, which have spread from high school students to their parents, university students and unions.

A 15-year-old student lost his hand in the northern French town of Lens on Monday during the clashes between protesters and riot police. The boy’s mother said on Wednesday that hand of her hand had been amputated due to the injury caused during the riots. She told BFMTV: “His life has been stolen. He’s a 15-year-old kid; how can children be treated like that?” She said her son had not tried to pick up the grenade.

More than 500 schools remained fully or partially shut on Wednesday as disruption from the school protests continued. Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu will be speaking k about the school protests in his evening address on October 7.

More than 6,500 people have ​been detained by the French police, and almost all of the detainees are minors. Twenty-four schools have been burned or damaged. The guardian reported that more than 1,800 people are being prosecuted and nearly 1,500 of them are under 18 years of age.

On Tuesday, hundreds of thousands marched to demand better school conditions. Police used tear gas and water cannons in some cities. The protests started on September 21, 2026 have taken a violent turn.

Political Row Over the Protest

France’s protests have unsettled the government ahead of key presidential elections that will pick President Emmanuel Macron’s successor. Protests come as the government is trying to shrink a growing budget deficit while investors grow more uneasy about France’s high debt and weak economic growth.

The protests have also triggered a sharp political row. The government has accused the radical-left La France Insoumise party of backing and even directing the movement after many LFI MPs joined school blockades.

Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the party’s veteran leader and presidential candidate, has backed the protests strongly but called for non-violence.