French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu has defended the police handling of nationwide student protests, even as two teenagers suffered severe injuries—one losing a hand in a grenade incident and another losing vision in one eye after being hit by a projectile.
Speaking in parliament Tuesday, Lecornu rejected claims that the government was overseeing police brutality or state repression. As reported by Politico, he argued that the phrase “police brutality” suggests officers had been directed to use excessive force.
“Police action is set in motion by the presence of urban violence,” Lecornu said.
He acknowledged, however, that “accidents can happen.”
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 officers were responding to urban disorder, including arson and vandalism, and maintained that police acted within their legal powers. Nuñez described the response as proportionate in “almost all cases.”
Lecornu also accused the opposition group France Unbowed of using the student unrest 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 confronted the expanding protests and the political pressure surrounding them.
More than 6,500 people have been arrested and hundreds injured as students across France protest inadequate school funding and poor learning conditions. Most of those detained 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 employees had been injured since the demonstrations began. His office separately reported that 715 police officers had also sustained injuries.
“I hope we can offer a political answer to the very genuine anxiety felt by high school students,” Lecornu said.
While the prime minister spoke Tuesday, high school and university students joined members of several trade unions and teachers’ organizations in demonstrations. Politico reported that representatives of France’s left-wing parties also participated.
The Interior Ministry estimated that 266,000 people marched across the country Tuesday, including approximately 56,000 demonstrators in Paris.
The main Paris rally remained mostly peaceful, though smaller groups later confronted riot police, the Associated Press reported.
The protests began at high schools around Paris in mid-September and subsequently spread to cities and towns nationwide.
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 suffered the loss of a hand when a police grenade detonated during the unrest, Politico reported. A prosecutor said it remained unclear whether the teenager had picked up the grenade or whether it had been thrown toward him.
A 16-year-old in Tours also lost sight in one eye after being struck by a projectile, according to the outlet. Prosecutors said it may have come from a police weapon designed for sub-lethal riot control.
Boris Vallaud, head of the center-left Socialist parliamentary group, said lawmakers would propose legislation limiting the use of sub-lethal riot-control weapons at student rallies. He warned that such weapons can inflict permanent injuries, Politico reported.
