Britain, Italy and most of Germany rarely use rubber bullets or stun grenades for crowd control. France does, and after more than two weeks of high-school protests the cost is becoming visible. CNRS policing researcher Sebastian Roche counts four permanent injuries to minors in under a fortnight, a level he calls “unknown” in the country’s modern history.
Behind that count are individual cases. In Saint-Ouen-l’Aumône, north-west of Paris, 14-year-old Eden took a tear gas grenade to the face, fired from close range; his jaw was broken and several teeth destroyed. His parents are pursuing an attempted-murder complaint, and the officer now faces charges for violence by a public official causing lasting disability. In Lens, a boy of 15 had his hand torn off, probably to a stun grenade, prompting Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez to suspend those devices for student protests. A 16-year-old in Argenteuil risks lasting damage to one eye.
Reuters has documented 28 injury cases linked to police force, and the IGPN watchdog is examining two dozen incidents. Nuñez puts the number of injured students at about 200, while insisting police are rarely the cause. He also cites around 700 injured officers, damaged schools and assaults on teachers. Police have made more than 6,800 arrests, overwhelmingly of teenagers.
Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu calls it the most violent protest wave in decades but denied that officers were told to seek confrontation with pupils, and he has pledged a response plan before November. Lawyers for detained teenagers describe slaps, chokeholds and insults in custody.
The students’ demands concern underfunded and understaffed schools, yet the dispute has turned into a debate on weapons. Amnesty International and left-wing mayor Bally Bagayoko want “less lethal” arms banned. Police unionist Thierry Clair warns that without them, only lethal force would remain.
The issue now feeds into the campaign for the 2027 presidential election.
