French police investigate 36 complaints of violence at protests — The Guardian
In France, police have opened internal investigations into 36 complaints of violence by law enforcement officers during school protests. As The Guardian reports, Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez told the Senate that four minors, according to the complainants, suffered injuries from explosive devices, while another six sustained significant injuries.
The country is in the fourth week of one of the largest youth protest movements in recent decades. Students have blocked hundreds of schools, demanding that absent teachers be replaced and neglected buildings repaired.
Teenagers' injuries
A 15-year-old vocational school student in the city of Lens lost his left hand on October 5 as a result of the explosion of a police stun grenade near a protest. His lawyer, Bertrand Wattez, said the teenager's injuries resembled war wounds. According to the lawyer, the boy came to school for classes and did not take part in violence. The Béthune prosecutor's office claimed that the grenade had been picked up from the ground, but Wattez denied this. The family filed a criminal complaint.
In Saint-Ouen-l'Aumône, northwest of Paris, a 14-year-old teenager suffered jaw fractures and severe dental injuries after allegedly being hit by a projectile from a grenade launcher, his lawyer Elsa Marcel says. According to her, the shot was fired from a distance of about 1.5 metres. The family filed a complaint for attempted murder. One police officer was suspended from duty and his actions are officially under investigation.
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In the city of Tours, a police officer was charged with assault under aggravating circumstances after a 16-year-old vocational school student allegedly lost sight in one eye following a shot from a rubber-bullet launcher. The officer denies the charges.
Detention of minors
The Justice Ministry reported that since the start of the school protests in mid-September, 6,773 people under the age of 18 have been placed in police custody after being detained. More than one thousand of them were not charged, 2,190 minors may face legal proceedings, and nearly two thousand were assigned alternative measures, including civic education courses, without a trial or conviction.
Lawyers and human rights defenders say there has been a record number of detentions of minors, as well as reports from teenagers of beatings, humiliation, racist and sexist insults during detention. The Justice and Interior Ministries did not comment on these claims. In parliament, Nuñez denied excessive use of force or police repression and suspended the use of stun grenades during school demonstrations.
