France's school protests Lens injury remains disputed

Oct 5

IRINN's introduction claims more than six thousand people arrested and questioned over the past week and more than five thousand sent to prison. Paris correspondent Ebrahimi describes searches and witness reports of reduced internet access. He reports a fifteen-year-old's hand severed by a police grenade in Lens on Monday; a witness says it struck him, while prosecutor Thieffry says he cannot determine whether it landed on him or he picked it up. The report gives 984 students questioned Monday and another five thousand arrested the previous week, further injury allegations, pupils' complaints about pests and ventilation, a proposed internet cutoff and continuing protests. Counts and differing periods remain attributed.

TV Brasil reports a fifteen-year-old losing a hand during a student protest in Lens, Pas-de-Calais. It attributes to local reporting the assertion that he reportedly picked up a dispersal grenade after clashes with police. The account places the injury within roughly two weeks of protests over education resources, overcrowding and school conditions. It quotes government spokesperson Maud Bregeon's estimate of 400–500 closed schools and priority of curbing violence and restoring order. The precise injury mechanism remains uncertain. France 2's October 5 Lens report identifies Lycée Auguste-Béhal and carries conflicting witnesses: one says the grenade landed in the pupil's hand; another saw it on the ground. The reporter infers a possible pickup, but Béthune prosecutor Étienne Thieffry says neither sequence is established. The IGPN is investigating violence causing mutilation; responsibility remains unresolved. Vremya's October 6 retrospective says the pupil's life is not in danger, preserves the media-reported pickup allegation and protesters' dispute and reports human-rights calls for investigation. It does not resolve the mechanism or police responsibility.