A 15-year-old boy lost his hand near Auguste Béhal high school in Lens on Monday. France’s government has now suspended police use of stun grenades at student protests. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said there was a “strong possibility” that a non-lethal grenade caused the injury. He ordered the suspension until officials clarify the facts. The decision comes amid the most violent student unrest in decades, with a presidential election six months away and public finances already stretched.
What Happened in Lens
Accounts of the incident conflict. Authorities say the boy picked up the grenade before it exploded. Students allege an officer fired it directly at him, the BBC reported. The local prefect said police faced 200 to 250 students throwing stones and fireworks. When the grenade detonates, it releases small rubber pellets. The boy underwent an amputation and remains in hospital.
Nuñez told RTL radio that the police watchdog IGPN has opened 18 investigations into whether officers acted proportionately. “There is a police action that raises questions for all of us within the Ministry of the Interior; it’s what happened in Lens,” he said. He added that the government was “here to protect high school students.” Some police unions reacted coolly to the suspension. They invoked their right to withdraw from duty and cited “their inability to respond” if unrest occurred.
The scale of the disorder explains their unease. The prime minister said protests have injured 215 students, 85 staff and 715 police officers since they began in mid-September. The interior ministry says officials have stopped or arrested more than 6,500 people. On Tuesday alone, police arrested 488 people and 43 members of the security forces suffered injuries. Tear gas and water cannon were used in some cities.
The Grievances and the Fiscal Bind
Students cite dilapidated school buildings, teacher shortages, overloaded timetables and inequality between regions. They connect these problems to France’s slide in the OECD’s PISA rankings. French 15-year-olds scored 43 points lower in reading in 2025 than a decade earlier, the biggest drop in the OECD. Their mathematics scores fell the most, too. They also want changes to Parcoursup, the university application platform they regard as opaque and unequal.
Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu acknowledged the demands as “legitimate” and said the “anger of young people does not come from nowhere.” He promised a plan by the end of October. The money is the problem. The government faces pressure to control public debt amid weak growth, leaving limited funds for staffing, school-building investment and regional inequality. The draft 2027 budget raises education spending, yet ministers must still find several tens of billions of euros in savings. Lecornu reiterated an aim to bring debt down to 5% of GDP next year.
More than 500 schools were fully or partly closed on Wednesday. The interior ministry put Tuesday’s turnout above 250,000; student unions claimed 450,000. The CGT, France’s second-largest union, backed a fourth round of protests on Thursday, vowing to protect young people “from violence and police repression.”
Echoes Across Borders
The unrest isn’t confined to France. In Liège, hundreds of students rallied over rising education costs and overcrowded classrooms. Local media reported 107 arrests in recent days. The BE-Alert warning system told shopkeepers: “Major unrest is underway. Close your businesses.” Liège’s main station closed, then reopened. Belgium’s French-speaking Community has raised tuition for most students from €835 to €1,194. One student, 19-year-old Amelia Di Salve, said “France did influence us a little.”
Portugal’s FENPROF union began an indefinite strike in mid-September over unpaid overtime. Madrid teachers plan to strike on October 14.
Meanwhile, the political calendar presses. Marine Le Pen, a far-right candidate, is riding high in polls, and diesel again topped 2.36 euros per litre. Lecornu promised to release diesel stocks to ease prices.
Why This Matters: France is trying to answer a genuine failure in its schools while running out of fiscal room, and it’s doing so six months before voters choose a new president. Far-right and far-left parties are described as front-runners, showing how little patience remains for governments that can’t deliver visible results. Policing a protest movement of this size without further injuries tests the state’s credibility. Spending promises must also be squared with debt targets. Similar tuition and workload grievances in Belgium, Portugal and Spain suggest national governments, not Brussels, will bear the political cost of getting the balance wrong.