A police officer who fired a tear gas grenade in direct trajectory, seriously wounding the face of a secondary school student in the Paris region, was accused today of violence, the prosecutor of Pontoise announced.
© REUTERS/Yves Herman
06/10/2026
by
Lusa
O agent, indicted for the crime of “violence practiced by a public authority official resulting in mutilation or permanent disability”, has been placed under judicial control and prohibited from performing his duties until further notice, said the city's prosecutor, located on the outskirts of Paris.
Started on 17 September in the Parisian region, a movement of students claiming more resources for their schools gradually expanded, in the midst of a tense social climate, just over six months from the presidential election.
The mobilization takes place in full controversy due to the mutual accusations of violence between police and minors, which had another of its high points Monday, when a 15-year-old teenager lost a hand, in circumstances still under investigation, during confrontations outside a secondary school in Lens (north of France).
Today, student protests gathered between 256,000 and 450,000 protesters, according to the different figures released by the authorities and trade unions, respectively, on a morning journey that took place without major incidents.
In Paris alone, the French Ministry of the Interior estimated the number of participants in the march headed by secondary school students by 56,000, while the trade unions raised this number to 100,000. Throughout the country the French government estimates the total number of protesters at 256 thousand, while the unions speak at about 450 thousand.
In any case, it is one of the biggest protests this year and a reflection of the social discontent of a large part of the French with the deterioration of public services and the increase in the cost of basic services, such as energy.
Since the uprising broke out in mid-September, more than 600 police officers and Gendarmerie agents have been registered and just over 200 injured students and more than 5,000 arrests across the country, as well as damage to educational establishments and urban furniture already evaluated in several tens of millions of euros.
The convergence of the struggles between students, trade unions and the left occurs after the presentation of the budget plan for 2027 of the Government of Sébastien Lecornu, criticized for including savings measures that the executive justifies due to the high debt of the country (almost 120% of GDP) and the pressure that French bonds suffer on the markets.