Over 5,000 people have been arrested across France since Monday following widespread student protests over learning conditions, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez announced on Friday.
Nunez reported that "urban violence" disrupted 158 establishments and affected 735 schools nationwide, describing the scale of the mobilization as "surprising." Demonstrators threw projectiles and attacked police, teachers, journalists, and passersby. On Thursday alone, nearly 2,000 arrests were made during 900 protests outside educational institutions also leaving more than 300 law enforcement officers injured.
The escalating unrest has raised severe concerns over police tactics and protester safety:
Eye Injury in Tours: A 16-year-old high school student lost the use of an eye in Tours after being struck by a controversial LBD-40 rubber-bullet riot gun used by French police. The national police inspectorate (IGPN) has launched an inquiry.
Drowning Allegation in Belfort the Video footage shared on social media appeared to show an officer holding a protester's head underwater. Belfort Public Prosecutor Paul-Edouard Lallois dismissed drowning allegations also stating both individuals accidentally fell into a river while the officer attempted to handcuff a suspect resisting arrest.
Lawmaker Antoine Leaument of La France Insoumise condemned the Belfort incident calling on the interior minister to enforce restraint among officers.
With hundreds of schools remaining closed or blockaded the student advocacy organizations and left-wing political groups have called for nationwide demonstrations on October 6 to protest police repression.
