France Bans Stun Grenades After Student Protests Leave Boy Without Hand
France has suspended the use of stun grenades in policing student protests sweeping the country, after a 15-year-old’s hand was blown off earlier this week.
Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said he called for the pause until the facts surrounding Monday’s incident in Lens were “clarified, after conflicting accounts from protesters and officials.
On Wednesday, more than 500 schools were fully or partially closed as the disruption continued.
Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu defended the police response after several groups complained that police used disproportionate force against teenagers.
In a speech to the nation on Wednesday night, he denied that the security forces had orders to confront the young people.
He said the Government would consider the students’ demands and promised to bring a set of proposals by the end of October, ranging from the renovating buildings to making more teachers available. He did not provide further details.
“The anger of the youth doesn’t come out of nowhere,” he said. 24 schools have been set alight or vandalised to such an extent they will be closed for several weeks, affecting 30,000 pupils,” Education Minister Edouard Geffray said.
Hundreds of thousands of people marched Tuesday to demand better school conditions. In some cities police used to tear gas and water cannons. The interior ministry said it had arrested 488 people and that 43 security forces personnel had been hurt.
We have opened 18 investigations by the police watchdog, the IGPN, to see whether the police were proportionate during the demonstrations, Nunez told French radio RTL. The protests have spread from high school pupils to their parents, university students and unions.
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