After a high school student lost his hand at a protest on Monday (October 5), Francuska stopped the use of stun bombs. Accusations of police brutality have mounted during two weeks of demonstrations for better conditions schooling, in which hundreds of people were injured.
Police brutality in France
French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said the use of stun grenades had been suspended until it was determined what had happened.
Photo: AP Photo/Jeremias GonzalezThe police have been accused of using excessive force
The boy's mother, whose arm was injured, said Wednesday that her son's hand had been amputated.
She told BFMTV that "his life was stolen".
"He is a 15-year-old boy, how can children be treated like that," she said, adding that her son did not try to pick up the grenade.
Protests across France continued. More than 250.000 students, teachers and parents have been demonstrating for days.
The latest incidents have led unions and human rights organizations to accuse the police of unnecessary use of force. In addition to the aforementioned boy, a sixteen-year-old boy lost sight in his right eye after being hit, and a fourteen-year-old boy lost his teeth when a shock bomb exploded near him.
Photo: AP Photo/Teresa SuarezHundreds of people were injured in France
Prime Minister Sebastián Lecorny denied accusations of excessive use of force by the police.
The protests continue
Since mid-September, 24 schools have been burned or looted, and more than 6.100 people have been arrested - almost all of them minors.
More than 700 police officers, at least 215 teenagers and 85 school employees were injured, the Prime Minister's office announced.
Photo: AP Photo/Teresa SuarezHe estimates that there were over 250,000 people on the streets
A large number of schools are still blocked. The Ministry of Education announced that more than 900 out of a total of 3.700 secondary schools were closed, while students reported a figure of 1.800.
Demonstrators holding banners with slogans such as "below our textbooks - rage", lit smoke bombs, trash cans and threw objects at members of the intervention police, who responded with batons, grenades and tear gas.
Citizens are asking for more funding for education, improving conditions in public schools, renovating them and hiring more teachers.
The French prime minister promised to respond to demands that are "justified".
Photo: AP Photo/Teresa SuarezThe police used stun grenades and tear gas
How bad is the state of schools
Videos taken by students and teachers show leaking schools, rats, holes in walls and ceilings, broken toilets - something that is also often seen in Serbian schools.
We remind you that in the last year, several ceilings in schools in Serbia collapsed - in Elementary School "Dragan Lukić" in Bežanijska kosa and "Dositej Obradović" in Voždovac. This year, the ceiling also fell in the school for primary and secondary education "Carica Jelena" in Niš, which is attended by children with developmental disabilities.
Photo: AP Photo/Aurelien MorissardStudents demand better conditions in schools
Students in France also complained that they spend too much time at school. Although they have a lot of breaks, they are engaged from 8 in the morning to 6 in the evening.
The protests, which are taking place seven months before a key presidential election, have put a lot of pressure on the French government, which has accused the radical leftist France Invincible party of inciting and even organizing the demonstrations, after several of its MPs attended school blockades.
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