A 15-year-old lost a hand on Monday picking up a police grenade as students across France demanded better classroom conditions in a days-long wave of protests that have erupted into blazes and barricades at some schools while disrupting lessons at hundreds nationwide.
Some students returned to classrooms but others maintained protests outside their schools, ahead of larger demonstrations expected on Tuesday in what a secondary school students’ union has dubbed “Act III” of the movement.
Authorities said the teenager was injured in the northern town of Lens. A police union source said he appeared to have picked up a sting-ball grenade fired by riot police and that it exploded in his hand.
Since late September, students have blocked the entrances to hundreds of schools, complaining of teacher absences, overloaded timetables, dilapidated classrooms and buildings ill-adapted to rising temperatures, among other grievances.