Truth Social

Demonstrators are demanding an end to overcrowded classrooms, shorter school hours and increased funding for education.

On Monday, a 15-year-old boy lost his left hand after picking up a police grenade fired at children in Lens, northern France.

The police officer who launched the grenade has since been suspended, Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said.

Speaking to the RTL news channel on Wednesday morning, Mr Nuñez announced the suspension of stun grenade use “in the context of the high school student protests.”

He said 18 police officers were under investigation for excessive use of force, while another officer had been charged with “violence resulting in mutilation or permanent disability”.

The unnamed officer was pictured launching an attack on a 14-year-old identified as Eden in the Paris suburb of Saint-Ouen-l’Aumône.

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The teenager suffered a broken jaw and had all of his upper teeth smashed in during the baton attack.

As the crisis continued with riots across more than 30 towns and cities, President Emmanuel Macron convened a meeting with senior ministers yesterday evening.

One senior minister who attended said: “The President branded the police response too harsh and lacking empathy.”

Mr Macron is said to be particularly angry because, over the summer, he said he wanted the final years of his presidency to be “all about youth”.

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The President is due to leave office next May after serving the maximum 10 years in power permitted under the French constitution.

Mr Macron has also accused left-wing politicians of encouraging the protests in an effort to boost their electoral support.

Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the France Unbowed (LFI) presidential candidate, joined demonstrations yesterday, accusing the government of “steadily dismantling public services”.

A Toluna Harris poll last week suggested that Mr Mélenchon and Marine Le Pen of the National Rally would advance to the presidential run-off, with the poll putting Ms Le Pen ahead.

University students and parents joining the movement by blockading their own faculties reached a peak yesterday, even receiving support from some trade unions.

Sophie Binet, of the General Confederation of Labour (CGT), France’s biggest trade union, said the protests represented “a red alert warning” to the current administration.

Ms Binet said: “This anger is not going away. The government must look again at the budget.”

France’s interior ministry estimated some 86,000 people had joined protests across more than 30 towns and cities yesterday, with tens of thousands marching in Marseille, Nice, Nantes, Lyon and Paris.

The Union Syndicale Lycéenne (USL), one of the groups organising the protests, said 1,800 high schools were either blockaded or closed by the Education Ministry, and claimed that 90 per cent of universities were blockaded.

At least 215 people have been injured and more than 5,000 arrested over the week, and on Friday it was reported that more than 30 universities and more than 600 high schools had been blocked.

In Strasbourg yesterday, police and protesters were involved in scuffles, with reports that firecrackers were thrown at officers.

Meanwhile in Lyon, protesters and riot police confronted one another, while a barricade was set alight. Bins were also burned in Lille.

In Rennes, images showed riot police using water cannon during clashes, with some protesters attempting to shield themselves with umbrellas.

The USL is demanding the creation of 150,000 additional higher-education places, €10 billion (£8.4 billion) in emergency funding to rebuild schools and “mass hiring” of teachers.