PARIS — A teenager has 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 in the northern city of Lens on Monday. Unverified police reports said that he had picked up a stun grenade.
The youth, injured near the Auguste-Behal vocational high school, was taken to hospital in Lille. His life is not in danger, according to Pas-de-Calais prefect Francois-Xavier Lauch.
A police union source reported that the student appeared to have picked up a rubber sting-ball or ”de-encirclement” grenade, fired by riot police, in an attempt to throw it back before it exploded in his hand, the AFP news agency reported.
Public prosecutors said investigators have yet to establish whether the teenager picked up the device or whether it landed on him.
They have referred the case to police internal affairs, which is now engaged in six investigations into serious injuries that have occurred during the student protests.
Education Minister Edouard Geffray described the teenager’s injury as “humanly dramatic” but said he would not comment further until the circumstances were established. He said 190 students had been injured since the protests began.
Last week, Eden, 14, was badly hurt in Saint-Ouen-l’Aumône after reportedly being struck on the head by a tear gas grenade.
The student suffered “a double jaw fracture” and had to undergo “extremely major surgery”, according to his lawyer.
Speaking at a news conference on Monday, Eden’s mother said her heart was “shattered”.
“It’s shameful, it’s appalling, it’s violent, it’s horrific,” French media outlet BFMTV reported her as saying.
“This should not happen. They are dealing with children who are asking for better conditions in which to study.”
Another protester, aged 16, who suffered serious head injuries at a protest in the central city of Tours last week has lost the use of one eye, prosecutors said.
Among the 5,060 people arrested since the start of the movement, 87% were minors and 13% were adults, according to France’s justice ministry.
Fourteen people have reportedly been placed in pre-trial detention, while 1,802 people are facing prosecution, including 319 adults and 1,483 minors.
The Lens incident has added to scrutiny of police tactics during the demonstrations. Amnesty International France has criticised what it described as disproportionate police force against minors, saying it was alarmed by reports of students being hit with batons and subjected to tear gas and rubber-bullet fire known as LBDs.
The rights group said many of those taking part were minors under 18 and called on authorities to ensure policing methods were proportionate and compatible with France’s human rights obligations.
Government spokesperson Maud Bregeon told CNews television on Monday that the priority was to “restore order”.
The Education Ministry said 589 schools had been disrupted on Monday, down from 735 on Friday, according to figures reported by Le Monde. Earlier estimates had suggested between 400 and 500 of France’s 3,700 high schools could be fully or partially closed.
Nationwide demonstrations erupted at the end of last month at a high school in a Parisian suburb over teacher shortages, before spreading nationwide.
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