French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu defended the police response to nationwide student protests after one teenager lost a hand in an incident involving a police grenade and another suffered permanent vision loss in one eye after being struck by a projectile.
Speaking in parliament Tuesday, Lecornu rejected accusations of police brutality and state repression. He said the phrase “police brutality” suggests officers had been directed to use force, according to Politico.
“What triggers police action is the occurrence of urban violence,” Lecornu said.
“Can accidents happen? The answer is yes,” he added.
French riot police stand near burning objects during clashes with protesters in Paris on Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2026. (Reuters)
Lecornu and Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez have said the police response was prompted by urban violence, arson and vandalism, while insisting that officers acted within their legal authority. Nuñez described the response as proportionate in “almost all cases.”
Lecornu also accused the opposition party France Unbowed of using the student protests to create disorder and gain political advantage ahead of next year’s presidential election.
President Emmanuel Macron called an emergency meeting with senior ministers as the government sought to address the nationwide student demonstrations and their possible political consequences.
Pressure on the French government has intensified after more than 6,500 people were arrested and hundreds injured during protests over school funding and learning conditions. Most of those arrested were minors, according to the Associated Press.
Riot police use a water cannon as they face students during a protest against under-resourced schools in Rennes, western France, on Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2026. (Jeremias Gonzalez/AP)
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Lecornu said 215 students and 85 school staff members had been injured since the demonstrations began. His office reported that 715 police officers had also suffered injuries.
“I hope we can provide a political response to a very real anxiety among high school students,” Lecornu said.
As the prime minister spoke Tuesday, high school and university students joined demonstrators from several French unions and teachers’ organizations. Members of left-wing political parties also attended, according to Politico.
The Interior Ministry estimated that 266,000 people participated in demonstrations across France on Tuesday, including 56,000 in Paris.
The main Paris protest was largely peaceful, though smaller groups later confronted riot police, the Associated Press reported.
The protest movement began at high schools in the Paris region in mid-September before expanding across the country.
French riot police officers remove elements of a burning street barricade during a demonstration by French high school and university students in Lyon on Oct. 6, 2026. (Reuters)
On Monday, a 15-year-old boy in northern France lost a hand when a police grenade exploded during the protests, Politico reported. A prosecutor said it was not possible to “say for certain whether the student picked up the grenade or whether it was thrown at him.”
In Tours, a 16-year-old lost sight in one eye after being hit by a projectile. The prosecutor said it may have been fired from a sub-lethal riot-control weapon used by police, according to the outlet.
Boris Vallaud, leader of the center-left Socialist group in parliament, said lawmakers from the group would introduce legislation to limit the use of sub-lethal riot-control weapons at student demonstrations. He warned that such weapons can inflict irreversible injuries, the outlet reported.
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