French prosecutors open IGPN investigations into police conduct across student blockades

Investigation into Metz arrest

On 6 October 2026, the public prosecutor of Metz opened a judicial inquiry into the conduct of a plainclothes police officer during the arrest of a teenage girl. The investigation followed the circulation of video footage online, shared by La France Insoumise deputy Sophia Chikirou, showing an officer on the ground next to a detained girl while touching her hair and chest. Prosecutor David Touvet tasked the General Inspectorate of the National Police (IGPN) and the Anti-Cybercrime Office with authenticating the footage and determining the circumstances of the intervention.

The investigation focuses on the conditions of the young girl's arrest and is intended to establish whether or not acts constituting sexual assault on a minor under 15 took place.

Inquiries into severe student injuries

The Metz inquiry follows ten other administrative and judicial investigations opened by the IGPN since high school mobilizations expanded across the country. In Saint-Ouen-l'Aumone, Val-d'Oise, 14-year-old student Eden sustained severe facial injuries on 28 September 2026 outside Lycee professionnel Chateau d'Epluches. Video recordings showed a confrontation with three helmeted police officers, during which the teenager was struck in the face by a tear gas grenade launcher. The student required his jaw to be wired shut after losing multiple teeth, prompting the Pontoise prosecutor to launch two investigations, including an IGPN inquiry and a probe into violence against police officers. The student's family prepared a legal complaint alleging attempted voluntary homicide.

In Tours, Indre-et-Loire, public prosecutor Catherine Sorita-Minard opened a separate IGPN investigation after 16-year-old student Mael suffered severe head trauma on 30 September 2026 during a blockade at Lycee Balzac. Forensic medical examinations confirmed that the teenager was blinded in one eye.

Canine intervention dispute in Rillieux-la-Pape

Scrutiny over protest policing also extended to municipal forces in the Rhone department. Abdelkader Lahmar, a La France Insoumise deputy for the 7th constituency of Rhone and mayor of Vaulx-en-Velin, initiated an Article 40 referral to the public prosecutor on 6 October 2026 regarding an arrest in Rillieux-la-Pape. Lahmar published footage of an intervention from 5 October 2026, challenging Interior Minister Laurent Nunez over the deployment of a police canine against a young person.

The mayor of Rillieux-la-Pape, Alexandre Vincendet, defended the municipal police officers involved in the operation. Vincendet stated that the canine remained muzzled and held on a leash throughout the detention, asserting that the intervention adhered to standard police procedures. The incident follows an earlier case from late March 2026 in the same municipality, where a young man filed a complaint for voluntary violence and attempted murder after sustaining a police dog bite to the neck that resulted in eight days of total work incapacity.

National mobilization and casualty figures

The growing list of internal police probes accompanies widespread unrest and enforcement operations across French cities. Official figures released at the beginning of October 2026 recorded 6,059 arrests since 28 September 2026. The government reported that 715 police officers and gendarmes sustained injuries during clashes throughout this period.

Matignon stated that 215 students were injured during the high school protests. The Prime Minister's office attributed the vast majority of these injuries to accidents or actions caused by external individuals rather than direct police interventions.