Key facts
- French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu defended police actions during student protests.
- Lecornu stated that "accidents happen" when police confront "urban violence."
- One schoolboy suffered a severed hand, and another lost an eye during protests.
- Protesters are demanding more funding and better working conditions in high schools.
- Some 86,000 people joined marches outside Paris.
French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu has defended the police's handling of ongoing student protests, acknowledging that "accidents happen" after incidents resulted in severe injuries to two teenagers. One 15-year-old boy in northern France had his hand "blown apart by a grenade," while a 16-year-old in Tours lost an eye after being struck by a projectile that prosecutors suggested may have been a sub-lethal riot police weapon.
