France halts stun grenade use after boy, 15, loses hand in Lens as PM says 'accidents happen'
From the Newshound archive · first published 5 October 2026 · last updated 7 October 2026.
A crowd gathered outside Honoré-de-Balzac high school near Paris, one of hundreds of schools blockaded as France's trade unions joined student protesters in nationwide "Act III" demonstrations, with more than 6,000…A police stun grenade of the type used during school blockades in France. A 15-year-old lost his left hand when such a device exploded near a vocational school in Lens, with investigators yet to confirm whether he…Riot police advance through smoke near Place de la Nation in Paris as clashes broke out on the margins of the mass demonstrations.Bally Bagayoko amid the Paris demonstration, as France's student unrest reached what the High School Students Union called "a new record" turnout, with a baby hospitalised after being struck by a firework.
Stun grenades have been banned from student protests in France after a 15-year-old lost his hand when one detonated in Lens on Monday. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez ordered the suspension pending the "clarified" facts. The boy's mother told BFMTV: "His life has been stolen — how can children be treated like that?" His family insists he never touched the device, directly contradicting the official version of events. Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu is due to speak to the nation on Wednesday evening, with more than 500 schools closed.
Lecornu told parliament 'accidents happen' when asked about police brutality — even as a second teenager lost sight in one eye from a projectile.
Arrests since the protests broke out have exceeded 6,100, among them 1,483 minors, while 215 teenagers and more than 700 police officers have been injured.
Trump waded in, posting on Truth Social that the chaos is "nothing less than out of control mass migration" and "Islam wanting to take over a once great Country."
