France school protests: 15-year-old student loses hand in stun grenade incident

A 15-year-old student protesting against France’s dilapidated and understaffed schools lost his hand on Monday after picking up a police stun grenade in the northern town of Lens, a local official told reporters.An investigation has been opened into the incident, the official added.The incident came as hundreds of French schools entered a second consecutive week of closures, a day ahead of a nationwide day of nationwide demonstrations.About 400 to 500 high schools remained fully or partially closed on Monday out of a total of 3,700, French education minister Edouard Geffray said.Geffray said 24 schools had been burned or ransacked and 78 teaching staff had been injured since demonstrations began at a high school in a Paris suburb over teacher shortages before spreading nationwide.The protests come as the government of President Emmanuel Macron seeks to push through a deficit-reduction budget for 2027.