France’s Interior Minister Suspends Police Use of Stun Grenades at Student Protests

France has temporarily banned police from using stun grenades at student-led protests, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said on Wednesday 7 October 2026, according to Al Jazeera. Nunez told radio broadcaster RTL early on Wednesday that he had suspended police use of stun grenades at the protests.

Injuries and Accusations of Excessive Force

Al Jazeera reported that a 15-year-old lost a hand in the northern city of Lens on Monday after police fired a stun grenade, and that a 14-year-old student was hit in the face by a tear gas grenade at such close range that he lost several teeth. It said rights groups, students and parents’ groups have accused authorities of using disproportionate force against minors.

The Protests

Al Jazeera reported that the protests started in late September with students blocking the entrances to hundreds of high schools for 15- to 17-year-olds over complaints of dilapidated facilities and teacher shortages, and demands for more education funding. Parents, teachers and union workers joined demonstrations in Paris and other cities on Tuesday, when, according to the report, hundreds of thousands of students and supporters marched across France.

The report cited official figures. The Ministry of the Interior said 6,100 people have been arrested since the protests began last month, the overwhelming majority of them minors. The Ministry of Justice said more than 1,800 people are being prosecuted, including 1,483 minors. At least 715 police officers and 215 teenagers have been injured in clashes, according to the office of Lecornu, the report said. Al Jazeera also reported that President Emmanuel Macron convened Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu and other key ministers to address the crisis.

Why It Matters

The suspension is a limited, temporary measure that responds to specific injuries to minors, and it leaves open the wider questions raised by rights groups and parents about how protests involving teenagers are policed. The figures on arrests and prosecutions come from the authorities themselves, and the numbers of injured on both sides show how tense the confrontations have been. Whether the ban remains, is extended or is lifted will signal how the government weighs public order against the accusations of disproportionate force.