France's school protests escalate as teenager's hand severed, Paris lycée set alight

A 15-year-old boy's hand was torn off when a police crowd-dispersal grenade exploded as he picked it up during a lycée blockade in Lens, northern France, on Monday, several French outlets including Libération, Sud Ouest and BFMTV reported. France's police watchdog, the IGPN, has been asked to investigate.

In Paris, masked individuals set fire to the entrance of the Lycée Vauquelin on Monday morning, trapping students and journalists inside as the fire took hold, headteacher Carole Zerbib said. Firefighters who responded were pelted with improvised objects, and a separate school in Paris's eighth arrondissement was closed over fears that vandals would exploit the unrest.

The injuries came as up to 500 French secondary schools remained fully or partially closed on Monday, with nationwide student protests over classroom conditions entering a third week, education minister Édouard Geffray said. A total of 413 schools reported disruptions on Monday morning, La Dépêche du Midi reported, with about 15 arrests in Toulouse alone, and clashes between riot police and protesters continued in Toulouse and Lille. A similar number of schools had already suspended classes on Friday, Geffray said, with a gradual, partial return to classes expected only where safety conditions allowed.

Of 735 schools affected by the unrest, 24 have been "burned or ransacked", Geffray said, and 78 education staff have been injured since the protests began. France's interior ministry said nearly 5,000 people, mostly teenagers, have been arrested since the unrest began last week. The Italian outlet Il Fatto Quotidiano put the total number of students injured since the protests began at 190.

In Marseille, a 15-year-old pupil has been placed under formal investigation and held in pretrial detention on suspicion of spraying a flammable aerosol into a woman's face during a protest on 1 October, Franceinfo reported. The woman, a care worker who said she had been trying to stop students from smashing a bus shelter, told RTL she was "doing fine", describing the impact as mostly emotional shock. The pupil has been charged with an act of barbarism.

Other serious incidents have been reported on the fringes of the protests. In Tours, a 16-year-old lost sight in his right eye after clashes between pupils and police, the local prosecutor said; Il Fatto Quotidiano reported his age. In La Ciotat, a 59-year-old teacher was doused in petrol and beaten during a demonstration; a 16-year-old suspected of the attack was arrested in Marseille. In Belfort, a police officer was chased, beaten and kicked by a group of young people, and two people were taken into custody.

Teachers' unions said they would join the pupils' protest, criticising the government's response as too focused on policing rather than on addressing staff shortages. A new day of nationwide mobilisation was planned for Tuesday.