Student protests in France are growing violent as riot police forces continue to use dangerous weaponry to curb the agitation while government critics and human rights campaigners condemn the use of unnecessary violence seen in police arrests and tactics so far.
He was taken into custody a week after the incident and charged with violent mutilation, punishable by up to 15 years in prison.
The officer who fired a grenade launcher directly at the student in this case said during questioning in custody that he acted in “a fraction of a second” to protect a female colleague who’d exchanged blows with the boy, according to a statement from the prosecutor’s office leading the investigation.
Government’s response so far
“Here in France, they don’t listen to us. They would rather send in the police than listen to us and put measures in place to improve our daily lives. Wakya, however, claimed that her first experience of detention only further increased her resolve to continue to protest. Lecornu provided no details in this matter, however. “What I want are concrete, quick and fully funded answers. Furthermore, he pushed for heavier government investment in education and advocated higher taxes for billionaires. Their mathematics scores also dropped the most.
Education Minister Edouard Geffray told parliament that 24 high schools had been damaged by fire or vandalism to the extent that they would remain closed for weeks, meaning some 30,000 students would receive no in-person teaching until they reopened. A cost of €20 million to €30 million has been estimated to fix the damage caused so far. French 15-year-olds scored 43 points lower in reading in 2025 than in 2015, according to the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment, the biggest drop among the OECD countries.
Samy and Warkya, both 17, also made allegations of being picked on by cops due to their colour, as per AP’s reports.
” There was no apparent motive, because we weren’t wearing hoodies, we had nothing on us, our faces were visible,” they said. “In the past, too many promises were not kept, quite simply because they were untenable,” Lecornu said. A father of four, he said that “the high school children who were in the street could be my children … it is my responsibility to be at their side.
The government, so far, has had a delayed reaction to the protests with Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu addressing the nation on Wednesday to share that the government would review the demands made by students and present proposals at the end of October on issues ranging from renovating buildings to make more teachers available. Student leaders, on the other hand, called out the lack of an immediate government response on the matter after talks at the education ministry on Wednesday failed to draw a clear conclusion.
