The crackdown began after a high‑school protest in the Paris region on 12 September, when police fired a tear‑gas grenade that shattered the jaw of 14‑year‑old Eden and sparked a wave of arrests.
Eden, a sophomore at the Lycée Jules Verne, was left unable to speak or swallow normally after surgery; his mother said he now relies on a straw to drink.
The incident is one of at least three severe injuries: a 15‑year‑old in Lens lost a hand after a stun grenade, and a 16‑year‑old in Tours suffered partial blindness from a riot‑control round.
Interior Minister Laurent Nunez has suspended the grenade model and said authorities will determine the circumstances; the officer who fired it faces a 15‑year potential sentence, while the government defends the use of force as proportionate. The next day, 488 protesters were detained nationwide, illustrating the scale of the crackdown.