French interior minister suspends stun grenades as student protests draw 250,000 demonstrators nationwide

Suspension of stun grenades after Lens injury

The French government paused the deployment of stun grenades during student demonstrations on Wednesday, 7 October 2026. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez announced the measure following an incident in the northern city of Lens on Monday, 5 October, where a 15-year-old high school student lost his hand during clashes with riot police. Nuñez noted a strong probability that a non-lethal police munition caused the amputation, prompting the immediate suspension pending administrative inquiries. The national police watchdog, the IGPN, opened 18 separate investigations into whether officers maintained proportionality during the ongoing wave of demonstrations. The ministerial directive followed scrutiny from civil rights organizations, student unions, and opposition lawmakers regarding police tactics against underage demonstrators.

I am suspending their use for the high school students' movement until light has been shed on what happened in this case.

Nationwide mobilization and public order clashes

The third nationwide day of mobilization on Tuesday, 6 October brought walkouts across French cities. The Interior Ministry estimated nationwide turnout at 250,000 people, while organizing groups reported 500,000 demonstrators on the streets. In Paris, between 56,000 and 100,000 people marched between Place de la République and Place de la Nation, where teachers formed human chains along the route to shield younger pupils. Tensions escalated near Place de la Nation as security forces clashed with an estimated 300 radical demonstrators who threw stones, incendiary devices, and street furniture. Police responded with tear gas, water cannons, and dispersal grenades in Paris, Lyon, Strasbourg, and Marseille. Authorities detained 488 people nationwide on Tuesday, leaving 43 law enforcement officers injured and raising total detentions since the start of unrest on 28 September to 6,547.

Grievances over infrastructure and educational cuts

High school students mobilized against worsening classroom conditions, dilapidated physical infrastructure, and persistent staffing shortages across French secondary schools. Protesters in the Paris suburbs cited classes holding up to 38 pupils, missing technical personnel, and rodent infestations in older facilities. Student representatives, including Elwann from the Lycée Jacques Decour in Paris, demanded budgetary increases, immediate building repairs, and the repeal of the Parcoursup university admissions platform. Over 500 schools remained fully or partially shut on Wednesday morning. Speaking before the Assemblée Nationale, Education Minister Édouard Geffray reported that 24 institutions suffered severe fire or vandalism damage, directly affecting 30,000 pupils. Geffray recorded 215 student injuries and 88 injuries among school staff since mid-September.

We have never seen anything like this.

Political fallout and cross-border solidarity

The unrest triggered government interventions and parliamentary debate. President Emmanuel Macron summoned Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu and cabinet ministers to an evening meeting at the Élysée Palace to evaluate public security. Addressing lawmakers, Lecornu condemned destructive acts on the sidelines of protests and called for individual accountability among minors while criticizing La France Insoumise. Left-wing political figures, including Jean-Luc Mélenchon, Green party leader Marine Tondelier, and Socialist First Secretary Olivier Faure, joined demonstrators in Paris. The protests generated cross-border actions in Italy, where student collectives occupied secondary schools in Turin and Rome, with Italian student delegations traveling to Paris ahead of planned international strike dates on 20 November.