By GB News (World News) | Created at 2026-10-06 05:06:04 | Updated at 2026-10-06 05:47:24
50 minutes ago
Officials across France are bracing for a national day of protests, with thousands of pupils expected to join marches across the country.
A youth protest movement is currently sweeping the nation amid a growing debate over the scale of the police response to the crisis.
In one incident which has made international headlines, a teenager's hand was blown off as school protesters clashed with riot police in Lens.
Local media reports the 15-year-old lost his hand and part of his lower arm after picking up a police dispersal grenade that detonated in the town in northern France as the wave of school protests entered its third week.
François-Xavier Lauch, prefect of Pas-de-Calais, declined to comment on the exact circumstances, saying about 200 to 250 protesters had hurled objects at police.
Six months before an election to replace President Emmanuel Macron, his government and the hard-right National Rally, led by presidential frontrunner Marine Le Pen, suggested hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) lawmakers and mayors were stoking the protests, an accusation LFI denied.
Speaking after meeting with students in the northern Paris suburbs, Education Minister Edouard Geffray said participation in the protests had been declining in recent days.
The government would launch a platform for students to express their dissatisfaction and kick off an action plan for particular schools, he said.
French high school students are expected to gather outside the Lycee Sophie Germain high school
REUTERS
Rights groups accuse police of using heavy-handed tactics against minors, including batons, tear gas and flash-ball guns.
Among several investigations into police methods, authorities are examining the case of a 16-year-old who suffered an eye injury after police fired rubber bullets into a crowd of protesters, according to his friends.
The Interior Ministry has not commented on the allegation of using excessive force.
The LFI, headed by presidential candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon, denies encouraging violence and accuses the government of politicising the issue and neglecting pupils' interests.
French high school students have rioted across the country
REUTERS
France's Justice Ministry said 5,060 people have been arrested since the protests began, with 87 per cent of them minors.
More than 1,800 people are being prosecuted, including 1,483 minors, the ministry said, without specifying the crimes. It said 790 cases had been dismissed.
The protests have put more pressure on a government trying to narrow a budget deficit as investor concerns about state finances grow, briefly pushing yields on France's 10-year bonds to a 24-year high above five per cent last week and raising the likely cost of future borrowing.
The protests began in September in Paris, focusing on poor suburbs, before spreading nationwide.
The government says they have been hijacked and morphed into urban violence.
Riots broke out across Paris over school standards
REUTERS
A government spokesman told local media: "Our priority is to restore order."
Some 400 to 500 high schools were closed or partially closed ahead of Tuesday's nationwide protest.
Officials said two dozen schools have been burned or ransacked, 78 teaching staff have been injured in the demonstrations and at least 190 students have been injured.
Sami Karen, 18, who was demonstrating outside Charles de Foucauld high school in Paris, said: "We’re going to keep blocking until the government hears us. As long as they don’t listen to us, we won’t stop this fight."
French Government Spokesperson Maud Bregeon said Paris would pass a new bill
REUTERS
Since last Monday, 5,000 people, 85 per cent of them teenagers, have been arrested and dozens injured.
Teachers and members of the public have been attacked, while damage to property is estimated in the millions of euros.
Government spokeswoman Maud Bregeon said Paris would fast-track a bill on October 27 to make youngsters found to have damaged property, or their parents, financially liable.
Security officials fear organised protests in central Paris in particular could bring further violence amid concerns that far-left and anarchist groups could try to take them over.
Sophie Binet, head of the CGT labour union, told local media her members would attend Tuesday's demonstrations to protect the students.
She said: "We've been appalled by what we have seen over the past 10 days and by the unprecedented crackdown that the government has organised."
