France suspends stun grenade use at student protests ahead of PM speech

PARIS: France has suspended the use of stun grenades by police at student-led demonstrations, the interior minister said Wednesday (Oct 7), as allegations of police brutality mounted after days of sometimes violent demonstrations across the country.

Tens of thousands of people took to the streets across France on Tuesday demanding better conditions in high schools, which prompted President Emmanuel Macron to hold an emergency meeting with Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu and other key ministers to find a way out of the crisis.

Lecornu will make a public address later Wednesday on the school protests as well as the country's finances, his office said.

Interior Minister Laurent Nunez meanwhile told radio broadcaster RTL early Wednesday that he had suspended the police's use of stun grenades at the protests.

A 15-year-old lost a hand on Monday after police fired a stun grenade.

And a 14-year-old student in northwest Paris was hit in the face with a tear gas grenade at such close range that he lost several teeth. A policeman was charged Tuesday over that incident.

Police have opened 18 internal investigations into allegations of misconduct since the protests began, Nunez said.

The protests started in late September with students blocking entrances to hundreds of high schools for 15- to 17-year-olds over complaints of dilapidated facilities and teacher shortages.

Parents, teachers and union workers joined the demonstrations in the capital Paris and other cities Tuesday, amid accusations of police using disproportionate force.

Sporadic violent clashes have broken out between police and protesters at what otherwise have been largely peaceful demonstrations.

Lecornu on Tuesday condemned the violence and told lawmakers the violence would not be tolerated, while also rejecting accusations that the government had ordered "police repression" against protesters.