French authorities have detained a 15-year-old boy after video appeared to show him directing flames at a woman during a protest in Marseille.
In the disturbing footage, the masked teenager can be seen standing near a bus stop and spraying fire toward the woman. The device appears to be a makeshift flamethrower assembled from an aerosol can and a lighter.
According to Le Parisien, the woman sustained first-degree burns to her face and was treated by medical personnel at the scene.
The incident took place Friday as student demonstrations spread across France, with young people calling for improved conditions in the country’s schools.
Students have pointed to deteriorating facilities, classrooms that become dangerously hot and frequent staff shortages as key complaints behind the nationwide protests.
Education Minister Edourd Geffray said the movement was “legitimate at the outset,” but accused ultra-left groups of subsequently taking control of the demonstrations.
The unrest has intensified in recent days, with high-school protesters reportedly setting fires outside schools in several parts of France.
Interior Minister Laurent Nunez told French television channel TF1 that more than 5,000 people have been arrested since the protests began. Most of those detained, he said, are high-school-aged minors.
“For a week now, unspeakable violence has struck our schools. High schools are being attacked, buildings are being vandalized, sometimes set on fire, and staff are being targeted,” Geffray wrote in a post on X.
“The initial demands called for a better public education service. Those who commit these acts want to destroy it,” he added.
France’s Ministry of National Education said at least 400 of the country’s 3,700 high schools would be fully or partially closed Monday as authorities responded to the continuing demonstrations.
