A teenager’s hand was amputated as high school protesters clashed with riot police in northern France on Monday, the eve of a national demonstration organized by a pupils’ union against underfunding, overcrowding and vandalism, a local official said.
Regional newspaper La Voix du Nord said the 15-year-old lost his hand and part of his arm after he picked up a police dispersal grenade that exploded in the town of Lens as a wave of school protests entered its third week.
François-Xavier Lauche, the governor of Pas-de-Calais, declined to comment on the specific circumstances, saying about 200 to 250 protesters were throwing objects at police.
Six months before the presidential election to replace President Emmanuel Macron, his government and the far-right National Rally party, led by presidential candidate Marine Le Pen, have accused hard-left lawmakers and mayors in unincorporated France (LFI) of stoking the protests. LFI denies this accusation.
Education Minister Edouard Jeffrey, after meeting with students in the northern suburbs of Paris, said that participation in the protests had declined in recent days.
He said the government would launch a platform for students to express their dissatisfaction and initiate an action plan for specific schools.
French police are accused of using excessive force
Human rights groups accuse police of using harsh tactics against minors, including batons, tear gas and flash guns.
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Among several investigations into police tactics, authorities are examining the case of a 16-year-old who was injured in the eye after police fired rubber bullets into a crowd of protesters, according to his friends. The Ministry of Interior did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the allegations of excessive use of force.
The association, headed by presidential candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon, denies encouraging violence and accuses the government of politicizing the issue and neglecting the interests of students.
The French Ministry of Justice said that 5,060 people have been arrested since the protests began, 87 percent of whom are minors. The ministry said that more than 1,800 people are being tried, including 1,483 minors, without specifying the crimes. She said that 790 cases were rejected.
The protests have put more pressure on the government as it tries to narrow the budget deficit as investor concerns grow about the country’s public finances, briefly pushing the yield on French 10-year bonds to a 24-year high above five percent last week and raising the potential cost of future borrowing.
The protests began in September in Paris, focusing on poor suburbs, before spreading across the country. The government says it has been kidnapped and turned violent in urban areas.
“Our priority is to restore order,” government spokesman Maud Prigon told CNews TV.
Between 400 and 500 high schools were closed or partially closed ahead of Tuesday’s nationwide protests.
Twenty schools were burned or looted, 78 teachers were injured in the demonstrations, and at least 190 students were injured, Jeffray said. He said that the goal is to resume classes in the affected schools on Wednesday.
“We will continue the ban until the government hears us,” said Sami Karen, 18, who was demonstrating outside Charles de Foucault high school in Paris. “As long as they don’t listen to us, we won’t stop this fight.”
Clashes between students and police
On Monday, BFMTV showed images of clashes between police and students in Lille in northern France, the use of tear gas in Toulouse in the southwest of the country, and a fire ignited as people tried to storm a school in central Paris.
Carole Zerbib, head of the Lycée Vauquelin school that was vandalized in Paris, said the school was attacked by a “very determined” group wearing hoods and masks who tried to break into the entrance door and then started a fire, forcing the school to evacuate and classes to be suspended.
“It was very violent and happened very quickly,” she said, adding that she did not believe the attackers were from the school.
Since last Monday, 5,000 people have been arrested, 85% of whom are teenagers, and dozens have been injured. Teachers and members of the public have been attacked, while damage to property is estimated at millions of euros.
Bregon said the government will expedite a draft law on October 27 to make young people found to have damaged their property, or their parents, financially responsible.
Security officials fear that Tuesday’s organized protests in central Paris in particular could lead to more violence amid fears that far-left and anarchist groups may try to take control.
Sophie Binet, president of the CGT trade union, told TF1 TV on Monday that her members would attend demonstrations on Tuesday to protect students.
“We are horrified by what we have seen over the past 10 days and by the unprecedented crackdown organized by the government,” she said.
