France riots: baby hit, teen loses hand

In another serious case, in Marseille, a woman in her 40s waiting at a bus stop tried to stop youths from vandalising the shelter.

One of them, a 15-year-old boy, is suspected of approaching her, spraying a substance from an aerosol can in her face and igniting it with a lighter. The woman suffered burns to her face. The boy was arrested and later remanded in custody after being charged with suspected "barbaric act". According to the authorities, he admitted the act and expressed remorse.

Serious injuries were also recorded within the protests themselves. A particularly horrific incident took place on 5 October in the northern city of Lens, when a 15-year-old student lost his hand in an incident involving a police stun grenade.

The circumstances of the incident are still under investigation: it was initially reported that the boy picked up the grenade, but the authorities have not confirmed this definitively, and his family claimed he did not try to pick it up.

Reactions online ranged from fury at the police who caused the boy to lose his hand forever, to others who blamed the boy for trying to throw a grenade at police, claiming he got what he deserved.

Following the incident, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez announced a temporary suspension of the use of stun grenades in high-school protests, pending clarification of the circumstances of the injury. The government expressed regret over the exceptional case. Due to the nature of the injury, the hospital was unable to save the boy's hand, he will remain an amputee for the rest of his life.

This is not the only incident in which police conduct is being examined. On 28 September, in Saint-Ouen-l'Aumône, a 14-year-old boy was injured in the face during a confrontation with police.

According to the investigation, an officer fired a gas grenade at him using a Cougar launcher from close range and in direct fire, a method of use that violates procedures due to the risk involved. The boy suffered a double jaw fracture and serious dental injuries. An investigation was opened against the officer, who was later charged with suspected violence leading to permanent disability.

Two days later, in Tours, a 16-year-old student lost the use of his right eye. The local prosecutor said the injury was consistent with a hit from an LBD rubber bullet, and his family filed a complaint. In this case too, an investigation was opened by the police oversight body, IGPN.

In another case, a student in Sélestat was seriously injured in the arm after an aerosol can was thrown into a fire. The incident took place against the backdrop of the riots around schools, and joins a series of injuries caused by the use of fire and flammable materials during the protests.

Education staff have also become targets. In La Ciotat, near Marseille, a teacher was sprayed with fuel and then physically attacked by two people, according to the authorities. The incident occurred as protests around schools in the area turned violent.

In Marseille, another serious incident was recorded when hundreds of youths surrounded a fire engine that arrived to deal with a fire near a school. According to police, the firefighters were forced to leave the vehicle, which was then set alight. Elsewhere, rubbish bins, school entrances and other buildings were set on fire.

Police have also been injured in the violence. In Paris, a lone policewoman was filmed being chased by several youths, knocked to the ground and kicked. In Belfort, the next day, a group of youths attacked a plainclothes officer after he arrested a boy. In videos described by Le Monde, the officer is seen being knocked down and kicked, with one of those involved hitting his head and causing him to lose consciousness briefly.

At the same time, the authorities report the use of other dangerous means by protesters. As early as late September, police reported seven cases in which hydrochloric acid was thrown at security forces. In other areas, fireworks were thrown at police, vehicles and rubbish bins were set alight and serious damage was caused to school buildings.

In one of the exceptional incidents in the city of Clermont-Ferrand, a school principal was hit in the head by a mortar-type firework. The authorities said the firing was carried out by a group of masked people who were in the vicinity of the protest, and did not determine that they were students of the school. A vocational school principal in Auch was also injured after a firecracker that was lit was thrown at him and exploded near him.

At the same time, a school in Nantes was burned down. The entrance to the institution, where some 1,700 students study, was burned during the protest, and the building was forced to close for several weeks. The circumstances of the fire are still under investigation, and at this stage it has not been determined who set it.

The overall scale of injuries illustrates the severity of the escalation. According to French Education Ministry figures released on 5 October, 190 students have been injured since the start of the protests, alongside 78 education staff. The Interior Ministry reported hundreds of police and gendarmes injured. On Tuesday alone, nearly 500 people were arrested, and the number of arrests since the start of the protest has already exceeded 6,500.

The crisis has reached a point where the government has decided to take exceptional measures. Following the loss of the 15-year-old boy's hand in Lens, France announced a temporary suspension of the use of stun grenades in high-school protests.

The Interior Minister said the decision would remain in force until it is clarified exactly how the boy was injured. At the same time, many investigations have been opened on suspicion of illegal use of force by police.

And one cannot ignore, of course, the serious wave of antisemitism that the protests have brought with them. A woman who displayed an Israeli flag in front of a group of rioters was herself attacked by a protester who snatched the flag from her and shouted "Nazi" at her.

In another incident, inside a church, youths were seen singing songs of praise to Mohammed Merah, the murderer of the Sandler family at the Otzar HaTorah school in Toulouse.

Thus, in less than three weeks, a protest that began around issues of education and learning conditions has become one of the most violent protest crises France has known in recent years, fuelled in intensity by far-left parties that are antisemitic and hate the police.

On one side stand students who claim they are fighting for their future and for an education system that does not provide them with basic conditions; on the other stand the security forces, dealing with arson, attacks on police, throwing of dangerous materials and violence in the streets.

And in between are those who did not come to protest at all, teachers, school principals, rescue workers and citizens who found themselves injured in the wave of violence.

And let us not forget the Jewish communities, who somehow always find themselves as victims of the riots taking place in Europe. History always repeats itself.