▲ Trash cans and bicycles burn during a student protest in downtown Paris.
Student protests protesting poor educational conditions are spreading across France.
It has been reported that a 15-year-old student lost his hand after picking up a police grenade.
According to AFP and British media such as Sky News on the 5th (local time), a 15-year-old student suffered severe hand injuries in Lens, a city in the Pas-de-Calais department of northern France.
A police union source stated that the male student picked up a sting-ball grenade fired by police, and it exploded in his hand.
Lens Mayor Sylvain Robert told BFM TV, "My thoughts are with this young man," adding, "The situation is not yet clear."
On this Monday, 468 out of about 3,700 high schools in France were fully or partially closed.
This accounts for about one in eight high schools nationwide. One-third of the closed schools are in the Paris region.
Some students have returned to classrooms, but many are still continuing protests outside their schools.
Students set up barricades at access roads and entrances and held up signs with slogans.
In front of some schools in places like Paris and Bordeaux, protesters were seen firing fireworks at police, and police responded by firing tear gas.
Some schools had their entrances burned and windows broken.
In the northern city of Lille, masked individuals smashed bus stops and set fire to trash cans.
The protesters are planning a large-scale demonstration on the 6th. The protests began at a high school on September 17 and spread nationwide.
University students are also joining the protests. Students are protesting poor educational conditions such as a chronic shortage of teachers, overcrowded classrooms, and outdated school facilities, demanding improvements such as the expansion of educational personnel and budgets.
Criticism has also emerged from some quarters that police and security forces mobilized excessive public power during the crackdown on protests and arbitrarily detained students.
More than 5,000 people have been arrested so far, 85 percent of whom are minors.
The Human Rights League (LDH) criticized in a statement on the 5th, saying, "The instructions given to the police do not include instructions to exercise restraint, even when dealing with minors."
However, the government criticizes that far-left activists are exploiting the protests.
Paris police stated that those who started these protests are no longer able to control the situation and urged students to lift school blockades and protest in a more peaceful manner.
(Photo: AP, Yonhap News)
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