France Suspends Stun Grenade Use at Student Protests After 15 Year Old Loses Hand in Lens.

France Suspends Stun Grenade Use at Student Protests After 15 Year Old Loses Hand in Lens.

France has temporarily suspended the use of stun grenades during high school student demonstrations after a 15 year old boy suffered the loss of a hand during a protest in the northern city of Lens, intensifying scrutiny of police crowd control tactics amid growing nationwide unrest.

French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez announced the suspension on Wednesday, October 7, saying the measure would remain in place while authorities establish the circumstances surrounding the incident. The decision applies specifically to the ongoing high school protest movement and follows a serious injury that occurred near the Auguste Béhal secondary school in Lens on Monday.

According to News report, AFP and other major international media outlets, the teenager was injured when a police grenade exploded during clashes between demonstrators and riot police. News reported that the boy lost his hand after a sting ball grenade was fired by riot officers, while other accounts said the teenager had picked up the device before it exploded. The precise circumstances remain subject to investigation.

French authorities have opened investigations into the incident. Reporting from Le Monde said the device involved may have been a GM2L grenade, although the exact weapon used and the sequence of events remain matters for investigators to establish. Separately, French police oversight authorities have been examining allegations of misconduct linked to the wider protests.

The Lens incident has become a focal point in a broader dispute over the use of force as France experiences its most significant student mobilisation in years. High school students across the country have been protesting over shortages of teachers, overcrowded classrooms, deteriorating school facilities and inadequate educational resources.

The demonstrations have spread to hundreds of schools and have increasingly involved clashes between protesters and police. Authorities have defended the need to maintain public order while also facing pressure from students, unions and rights organisations over allegations of excessive force. The government has said that investigations will determine whether police conduct complied with established procedures.

The French government has also attempted to respond to the underlying educational concerns. Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu has acknowledged the legitimacy of students’ demands, while authorities have discussed measures involving teacher shortages and school infrastructure. At the same time, officials have condemned acts of violence, including damage to public property and confrontations with police.

The suspension of stun grenades therefore represents both an immediate response to a serious injury and a wider test of how French authorities balance public order with the rights of young people to protest. The government’s decision is temporary, with the final outcome expected to depend on the findings of ongoing investigations.

The incident in Lens has also renewed debate over so called intermediate-force weapons used by French police during demonstrations. Le Monde reported that concerns over the safety of such devices have persisted because similar crowd control weapons have previously been associated with serious injuries.

As student demonstrations continue across France, attention will now focus on the outcome of the investigations, the government’s response to the protesters’ education demands and whether the suspension of stun grenades becomes a longer term change in French crowd control policy.