Gruesome injuries throw spotlight on France’s policing of high school protests

In Paris, a 14-year-old protestor suffered a gruesome jaw injury after a police tear gas grenade shattered his teeth. The officer responsible for the incident was eventually arrested and charged with violent mutilation, a crime that could result in up to 15 years of imprisonment. Doctors have since performed surgery on the boy, who is now unable to speak and must consume his meals through a straw, according to his mother.

This tragic incident is just one of many that have emerged from nationwide protests led by high school students demanding increased funding for outdated schools. In the former mining town of Lens, a 15-year-old lost his hand during an altercation involving a police stun grenade. Similarly, in Tours, nestled in the wine-producing Loire region, a prosecutor believes a police riot-control round may have been responsible for partially blinding a 16-year-old.

The physical injuries inflicted on these young protesters are merely the tip of the iceberg. The widespread use of arrests and tactics that government critics and human rights advocates claim are excessive or unnecessary has left a generation of French schoolchildren with a firsthand understanding of state power and their rights as citizens.

As these students, many of whom are soon to become voters, continue to advocate for change, they are using their experiences to shed light on the complex relationship between the state and its youth.