Over 5,000 Arrested as France's Student Protests Spiral
Speaking on TF1, Nunez said "urban violence" was recorded near 158 establishments during the unrest. He also said 735 schools had been affected and 1,747 arrests made, and described the mobilization as "surprising" in its "scale."
Hundreds of schools were closed or disrupted on Friday, with mass arrests and injuries reported nationwide. The students, who have been demonstrating for weeks, are demanding better learning conditions.
The minister said protesters threw projectiles and attacked police officers, teachers, journalists and passersby.
On Thursday, authorities counted 900 protests outside schools and nearly 2,000 arrests. More than 300 police officers and gendarmes were also injured.
Several organizations representing the student movement, joined by left-wing and far-left political groups, have called for a second round of mobilization on Oct. 6 against what they described as police "repression."
Teenager loses sight in one eye
A 16-year-old injured during protests in Tours, in central France, has lost the use of one eye, France Info reported.
The teenager was hit by an LBD-40, a riot gun known as a Lanceur de balles de defense. French police use the weapon despite controversy, and it has caused severe injuries at earlier protests.
The newspaper La Nouvelle Republique reported that the teenager is "still hospitalized." He was questioned on Friday by the General Inspectorate of the National Police.
Video prompts drowning allegation against officer
On Friday, Alertes Infos shared video footage on X that appeared to show a police officer trying to drown a protester in Belfort.
"He can be seen holding the young man's head underwater for long seconds," Alertes Infos said.
Belfort Public Prosecutor Paul-Edouard Lallois later rejected the allegation. He said the officer was arresting a suspect who had allegedly tried to start a fire and then moved to another location to avoid being targeted. According to Lallois, the officer and the young man lost their balance and fell into the river while the officer was trying to handcuff him for resisting arrest. Lallois added that the officer pulled the young man out of the water before handcuffing him.
Reacting to the video, Antoine Leaument, a lawmaker from the left-wing party La France Insoumise, tagged the interior minister in a post on X. He urged Nunez to call for calm "among the men under your responsibility."
"This intervention does not comply with any of the rules of maintaining order. None," Leaument wrote.
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