France just maimed a teenager during its biggest school protests in years

A 15-year-old student has lost his hand.

A police sting-ball grenade went off in his grip during school protests in Lens, in northern France.

It happened yesterday afternoon, near the Lycée Auguste Béhal, a vocational school in the town.

French regional reports say he lost part of his lower arm too. He was rushed to hospital in Lille.

François-Xavier Lauch, the prefect of Pas-de-Calais, confirmed the injury. He says the boy's life is not in danger.

So how did a grenade end up in a teenager's hand?

That part is disputed. A police union source told AFP the boy picked up a sting-ball grenade fired by riot police, trying to throw it back, and it went off in his hand.

The Pas-de-Calais prosecutor won't confirm that. One French regional report says it simply fell into his hands while he was running.

But here's what nobody is disputing. A crowd-control grenade thrown by police ended up in a child's hands. And it exploded.

An investigation has now been opened.

French regional reporting says the case has gone to the IGPN, the watchdog that investigates French police conduct.

The prefect says 200 to 250 protesters were throwing objects at police at the time. A separate regional report quotes him saying 150 to 200.

The school has switched to distance learning. It has set up a support unit for students and staff.

And this injury landed right in the middle of the biggest wave of school unrest France has seen in years.

Students have been protesting for around three weeks. They want more money for their schools. They're angry about unsanitary buildings, overcrowded classrooms, and teachers who never get replaced, especially in poorer areas.

Accounts differ on exactly when it started. One wire report points to 17 September in Créteil. Another points to late September, in a different Paris suburb.

Either way, by this morning it had spread across the whole country. More than 400 of France's 3,700 high schools were partially or fully closed. A third of the 468 lycées in the Paris region were expected to shut too.

Edouard Geffray, France's Education Minister, says 24 schools have been burned or ransacked since the movement began. 78 teaching staff have been hurt.

More than 5,000 people have been arrested nationwide. The government says about 85 per cent of them are minors.

And Lens is not the only case being raised.

A separate report says a 16-year-old lost the use of an eye after police fired rubber bullets into a crowd of protesters.

Rights groups say this is a pattern, not an accident.

Nathalie Tehio, president of the French Human Rights League, says quote "there is no directive to show restraint, even though they are dealing with children".

The League says security forces are using methods that go far beyond what the situation calls for, against a crowd where many are legally children. Police have not publicly answered that accusation.

So what has the government actually said?

Its language has focused on the students, not the police. Maud Bregeon, the government's spokeswoman, told the channel CNews that the priority was to restore order.

The government and some far-right figures have accused the hard-left France Unbowed party of stoking the protests. The party denies it, and says the government itself is being repressive.

The response so far has been about money and control, not restraint.

The government is fast-tracking a bill, due for a vote on 27 October, that would make anyone found to have damaged property during the protests, or their parents, pay for it.

Patrice Faure, the Paris police chief, published an open letter saying whoever started the protests no longer controls them. He's urging students to abandon the blockades.

Sophie Binet, head of the CGT union, says her members will join today's protests specifically to protect the high school students.

And this isn't just a story about schools anymore.

France's 10-year bond yield briefly passed 5 per cent, its highest level since 2002. Investors say the unrest is one reason behind it.

Property damage from the protests is already estimated in the tens of millions of euros.

All of this is happening about six months before France votes to choose who replaces President Emmanuel Macron.

A nationwide day of bigger demonstrations is expected today, the day after the Lens injury became public.

What we still don't know: exactly how the grenade got into the teenager's hand, whether the IGPN investigation has reached any conclusion, and what his condition is right now.