PARIS--The French government said on Wednesday it was pausing the use of stun grenades in its policing of student protests, after a 15-year-old boy's hand was blown off during a clash with riot police, fuelling protesters' accusations of police brutality.
Protests showed no sign of easing, with more than 500 schools closed a day after demonstrations swept across the country, and unions representing high-school students, teachers and other workers planning more marches for Thursday.
The wave of protests has been going on for more than two weeks and has exposed widespread public anger six months ahead of an election to replace President Emmanuel Macron. Speaking to the nation on Wednesday evening, Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said the government would review the demands made by students and present proposals at the end of October on issues ranging from renovating buildings to make more teachers available, but gave no details.
"In the past, too many promises were not kept, quite simply because they were untenable," Lecornu said. "What I want are concrete, quick and fully funded answers."
The lack of an immediate government response, which was decried by student leaders after talks at the education ministry earlier on Wednesday, appeared unlikely to quell the protests. At Lycee Lamartine, a high school in central Paris, protesters sang the Marseillaise, chanted slogans and performed Mexican waves as they blockaded the entrance to the school.
"We saw there were lots of crumbling walls, a shortage of teachers in public schools, absent teachers," said Gabriel Fillieule, who used to attend a public school but now goes to a private one. He and others said they were protesting to demand better learning conditions for all.
While most of Wednesday's blockades were peaceful, police used tear gas and pushed back protesters in a street barricaded by rubbish bins outside Sciences Po university in central Paris. Rights groups, labour unions, students and some opposition politicians have accused the police of using disproportionate force to quell the wave of protests.
Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said he had ordered the suspension of the use of stun grenades following an incident in the northern city of Lens on Monday in which there was a "strong possibility" the firing of a stun grenade had caused a teenager to lose his hand. "I am suspending their use for the high-school students' movement until light has been shed on what happened in this case," said the minister, who added that 18 incidents in total had been referred to the police inspectorate for investigation.
