Student, 15, has hand blown off by police stun grenade during French mass protests
7 days ago by geneva_convenience to c/world
A 15-year-old student has had their hand blown off after picking up a stun grenade being used by police as mass school protests continue across France, local authorities said.
The incident comes as nearly 500 schools are expected to be completely or partially closed following student protests across the country over dilapidated schools and classrooms, overcrowding and teacher shortages preceding a nationwide day of demonstrations on Tuesday.
I imagine the student thought it was a tear gas canister instead of the cops throwing explosives at children.
Most of the patients I've had who became upper limb amputees from explosives had a closed hand around the explosive when it happened. You can hold something like a fire cracker in an open palm and walk away with mild burns. However, if you were holding the same firecracker in a closed fist I would be fitting you with a prosthetic in a few weeks.
Now I'm not sure exactly how much energy a stun grenade goes off with, but usually if the limb is irreparably damaged without also causing other bodily trauma, the patient was probably holding the device when it went off.
You can hold something like a fire cracker in an open palm and walk away with mild burns
I can attest that because I blew myself up with a pistol flare in 2025 (long and stupid story). My left hand at the moment of the explosion was half-stretched out and the charge blew up a few centimeters below my hand. Only superficial burns to the hand and permanent hearing damage.
If I had the charge in a closed fist, it would have easily torn a hole through my hand. And that was just 2 grams NEC. A stun grenade is much more powerful than a pistol flare (my completely random guess: 20g NEC equivalent), so I reckon that eviscerating the entire hand is not out of the question.
It doesn't take much depending on the hand position when it goes off. We usually get about 2-3 people blowing up their hands in the trauma ward every year at the hospital during the 4th of July.
Regardless of whether the kid picked up the grenade, the mere fact that the grenade was launched towards kid is already crossing the line. They always try to make the people focus other things. It doesn't even matter to them whether it was shot at him or he picked it up. As long as the focus does not lie on them shooting the thing in the first place.
Some witness says the genade landed directly in his hand
That's a weird way to say he caught it. The first sentence of the article says he picked it up. He doesn't have to be a perfect victim to deserve sympathy or hold the pigs to account.
mmm catching a grenade wouldn't make him any less a victim. They launched a less lethal device close enough to someone for them to catch it, can't really go target blaming.
These "protestors" set fire to schools and doused one headmaster in gasoline.
So we have gone from protest to just idiot violence.
this is obviously serious stuff, but here's an argument on why everyone should learn volleyball
If in Canada, I would recommend a hockey stick. You can open carry those.
lacrosse net on one side, hock stick on the other
Of course, having a lacrosse stick in a riot is an excuse for them to beat you mercilessly.
Depends on the country I guess. Carrying a Lacrosse stick could signal that you are white and rich, so cops can leave you be.
Umbrellas are a valid option at a protest, with a little 3d printing, you could have an attachable basket to attach to the handle.
And then you can shield yourself and others by opening the umbrella as needed.
Brilliant!
Kevlar umbrella with tungsten reinforced frame?
Reminder that (some) policemen learned to ricochet rubber bullets off the ground. One comedian mentioned that in his set, said the bullet hit him straight into the nuts. As a USian he was obligated to appreciate the cool shot.
Username checks out
Lacrosse does not exist as a sport in France
French ≠ France. E.g. the largest French speaking country is the DRC. Lacrosse, despite its French name, is a North American sport, rooted in an indigenous practice. What I want to get to is that it would be really hard to find a lacrosse stick in France. I’m trying to figure out what would be easily accessible at a sports equipment store. Only thing I can think of is a tennis racket or maybe in south western France the Chisterac, a basket-glove for playing pelote basque.
So they have money to brutalize children but not to teach them.
Story as old as time
uh, the same "children" also set fires to schools and doused a Principal with gasoline.
Protests are important, but les enfants are going to need a lesson in le fuck around, le find out.
"officials said"
Oh, the cops told you that huh? And you believed them?
There are three rules when dealing with any police officer. Though if you only remember the first one you'll be fine.
Rule one: shut the fuck up. Rule two: they're lying Rule three: shut. The. Fuck. Up.
They fuck shit up in France when things aren't going the way they want.
As it happens, France has some of the strongest worker protection laws on the planet.
If they're not afraid of you, they're only going to use you.
They fuck shit up in France when things aren’t going the way they want.
As it happens, France has some of the strongest worker protection laws on the planet.
These two might be related.
A photo of TuaHawk during the American Civil Rights Movement
"They're setting fire to schools!!! Kill them allllll!!!!"
The police are learning it too. Let les enfants fight for what they believe in. Carry your scars through life and know that you earned them fighting for what you believe in. Or be free from scars and know you traded your freedom and your values for a little more "safety"
So you’re cool with violence against children… get fucked
I think you're missing the point that the government has been fucking around with these children and their families for decades and now they're finding out.
Or do you only believe in FAFO when it benefits those in power?
Nah, people will always try to spin it like they did nothing wrong to begin with. I'm not saying it wasn't the other parties fault as well, but it's NEVER their fault and the NEVER did anything.
It works across about everything. I used to fix iPhones (back when you could) and about 3x a day people came in with broken screens and it was NEVER their fault and they just couldn't figure out how it broke. Save for maybe half a dozen that actually said "I dropped it" or "I sat on it". They didn't even have a reason to lie to me, I didn't even care I make the same regardless.
Didn't most people come to you and just say "It's broken, can you fix it?". I don't mind admitting I broke a screen but I don't feel like this is necessary information, unless the repairperson asks.
Oh I love giving my atupid reasons the phone is broken. Like, it doesn’t just magically shatter, obviously I broke the thing. My favorite one so far is “Apple Care doesn’t cover heavy scratches, but to trade this thing in, it can’t have heavy scratches?” walks outside, takes off case, not so gently tosses phone into the air “You won’t believe this…..”
This is Lemmy, an anti-authoritarian anarchist bubble, where protestors are always 100% good and the state is always 100% bad. You can't post balanced news reporting here. /s
It's kinda funny how the left say they are so different from the right but use the same bubble mechanics where unwanted opinions are filtered out/suppresed lol. Horseshoe theory checks out lol.
Victim blaming is not “balanced news reporting”.
That first sentence of yours is very illuminating.
So, I live in this country and you're saying bullshit. We have witnesses saying people who set fire are not from the movement. When I was younger, I blocked my school and we already had that. They robbed delivery trucks, set fire to them, attacked cars and attacked us.
An eurodeputee captured images of cops, dressed as civilians, attacking their colleagues to start offenses. We saw similar records during our « yellow vests » protests.
Even if students did this, most of them disapprove. Also you have no confirmed profile yet anyway. And whoever did this does not deserve to lose his eye, jaw or hand.
What about the kid they tried to drown? What about the 14 years old girl who got strangled? Do you have excuses for that too? Does it make you laugh?
Please, in the future, restrain from talking about topics you don't know shit about.
Here, for you: A cop trying to pass as a protester launches a projectile to justify anti-riot cops charging what's otherwise a peaceful protest.
After that please come back explain about what "authorities" said about the protests.
We have videos and testimonies, full load of them. The state has "reports".
And some ****** have uninformed opinions based on their prejudice towards the platform they're on…
A cop trying to pass as a protester launches a projectile to justify anti-riot cops charging what's otherwise a peaceful protest.
This is part of why I think nonviolent* protests require absolute discipline, including stopping others from breaking that discipline: clearly, the cops care about having a justification, however flimsy it may be, and the apologists I've talked to do use "yeah, well, they were attacked, so they had to defend themselves and keep the peace" as defense too. At least some of them seem genuinely convinced they're doing the right thing by curbing violence, and even those without any conscience at all may feel more emboldened if they know they have a justification rather than relying on corrupt superiors cover for them.
Any message about police brutality is watered down by reports of violent protestors "starting it".
Provocateurs provide that justification. Such people are the poison in any movement by throwing even carefully laid plans into disarray. But particularly in a nonviolent one, in an age of ubiquitous cameras, images of protesters stopping other "protesters" from escalating could send a powerful message to counter those claims.
* I prefer the term "nonviolent" to "peaceful" because an effective movement targeting the political will that sustains injustice can look a lot like a war. It's just that the "weapons" aren't guns, but strategic disruption and messaging. They have to be a nuisance that can't be ignored, and they have to show the resilience to communicate that they won't stop until they get what they want. That's all easier said than done, of course, but where "peaceful" evokes an impression of people politely asking, protests need to be confrontational - just not necessarily violent.
it's kind of funny how you, oh wise enlightened centrist, are the only one to ever figure out that the thing that makes you comfortable just happens to be always right!
You cannot respect authority and respect yourself at the same time.
Lemmy is at a particularly extreme level of violence endorsement. If the people on here said the things that they usually say in public, in actual society and not their little bubble, they'd be rightfully locked up.
I talk about how Trump should fucking die every single day IRL, and not a single person has disagreed. My boss agrees. My therapist agrees. Literally everyone with a working brain agrees.
I worry about him getting assassinated because of the backlash and potential martyrization, but overall I think the world would be better, and lives would be saved if he took a forever nap ASAP.
If you think that means I ought to be locked up, you're a fucking fascist. Stopping fascism is the moral choice here. Ask people if Hitler's suicide was a tragedy if you're confused by the concept.
That hasn't prevented members of the U.S. government or ICE from being locked up
Posts on Lemmy are viewable to anyone, same as any other place.
I heard once that boxing gloves made boxing more dangerous, because previously punching someone in the head would hurt your hands so you'd focus on their chest and belly. With gloves you were free to give them a brain injury instead.
That is true. Bare knuckle boxing is ironically safer for the athletes in the long term and avoids CTE/TBI related complications.
Boxing gloves became popular because it protected the hands from getting cut up when striking the skull, allowing prizefighters to have more bouts without having to wait for their hands to heal between each.
Sounds very similar to Jevon's Paradox. Basically, making something easier/more efficient only encourages excessive use of it, and thus exacerbates rather than alleviates the problems associated with the thing. Another example of this is when traffic engineers think adding a new lane will decrease traffic, but all it does is induce demand and make traffic worse. Less truly is more.
Yes that's 100% true, the gloves are designed to protect the hands wearing them. They don't do anything for the safety of the opponent.
ACAB
All Cops are Nazis
I think you should try and learn a bit more about history. Because what the nazis did was a lot worse than throwing a stun grenade at kids.
You could learn from history too. Our police statuses never changed from their creation, they are inherited from Vichy's police. So it's kinda a nazi thing, yeah. 😐
The Nazi in this context is fascism, not nationalism. When government and corporate interests are indistinguishable, that's fascism. Cops uphold corporate/government interests. Cops do not uphold rights of citizens, nor do they protect them. Thus cops are Nazis.
Comparing the party which tried to exterminate a race with the cop giving you a ticket because you speed up and saying they are both equally bad is a bit of a stretch. Of course some (too many) cops do some atrocities today, but it's nothing compared to what the SS did. I don't really disagree with your arguments, but they only holds for a fascist state. And the assumption that all states in the world are fascist is a difficult one to defend.
Well the specific group of Nazi's you're talking about (almost) all dead. Cops are currently alive and are being bastards. Priorities.
Yes, but that's not really what Onyxonblack was saying, is it? You don't repurpose the Nazi word because there is a new bad group of people.
Yeah police don’t prevent none of this. They don’t prevent being robbed and if you’re not rich their investigation don’t turned out great, they don’t prevent women being raped and most of the time their investigation only make the victim relive their trauma and let the perpetrators go free. So yeah great example you got here
Police is useless for that. It's basic statistics.
There are other way to bring security and help than police you know. You can be creative and start thinking, it does not hurt. Reducing security to « police = security. No police = nothing in place = chaos » is intellectual laziness at its finest…
Homicide is about the only thing that they ever seriously investigate. If you've ever been robbed or raped, then you'll know that they are laughably ineffective at catching and prosecuting the perpetrator, even when presented with evidence.
The very fact that these crimes are still committed speaks to the efficacy of a police deterrent, which is to say, none.
If you feel as if you cannot criticize your law enforcement, then law enforcement will inevitably become more and more corrupt over time. Everyone should scrutinize the fuck out of their local PD and never give them the benefit of the doubt on anything.
Yep, my home was victim to robbery with sexual assault and the best I can say the cops did was ensure he didn't come back that night for more. They basically asked if we had a camera, then checked if we had drugs, and that was the extent of the investigation. They didn't notice the cut window screen or footprint under that window.
A heavily militarized police force enfringes on our contitutional right to assemble and protest.
Towns who have kicked out police and instituted a democratic system had their crime rate drop massively. See Cherán: "in the last year there have been no murders, kidnaps or disappearances."
I guess self-defence isn't an option then?
Ive been robbed a couple times, cops did nothing. Wcyd.
Almost melted my skin off picking up tear gas at Occupy Oakland. There were flash bangs. I hadn't even considered what if I didn't realize what I was grabbing.
Edit: same night I watch a decorated military officer in full regalia get shot point blank with non lethal shotgun. Right near the center of his chest iirc
God damn, me too. In my lifetime, that was the movement that resonated with me the most. They beat the shit out of those people.
please read the book If We Burn.
We need to learn from Occupy and why it failed, so the next time (which is likely coming soon) it won't.
Can you provide a few key points?
Leaderless horizontal movements, while historically understandable, are unable to move forward as needed to effect change and hold power.
To be fair, those who took part in Occupy are also part of many modern movements. It didn't solve the problems but it started a lot of movements that are still alive today that, hopefully, will make some real changes.
Oh yeah Occupy NYC is how I know what it's like to get pepper sprayed. I was in a crowd they were trying to kettle and a sergeant just let loose on the whole group around me.
Edit: same night I watch a decorated military officer in full regalia get shot point blank with non lethal shotgun
Based cop moment
decorated military officer in full regalia
You misspelled mass murdering terrorist
If you're a Marxist-Leninist, you probably already know that soldiers in the Tsar's imperialist army switching sides and becoming revolutionaries was an important part of the Bolshevik victory. Just something to think about, idk
True actually imperialist mass murdering troops are based because of an unrelated event 100 years earlier.
The Tsar's troops deserted because they weren't getting food and they were getting treated badly by the Tsar. Meaning you should be even more thankful for the cop shooting the mass murderer because that encourages other militant war criminals to desert their imperialist regime.
This is why a lacross stick is a good tool at a protest. You can scoop and launch the grenade back without it getting in your hand.
I don't know what a back shot is but I would be aiming to get the grenade back towards the cops as fast as possible without getting it close to myself or others.
I would be scooping and launching it back in one motion, it might not go far but if you bring it up to swing the shot back it could explode above your head.
I mean. Did they try making sure billionaires get more while continuing to deprive the working class?
Centrist governments the world over, creating fertile grounds for fascist swings. Because centrists protect wealth inequality. Which is a tragedy of course because these fascist swings make wealth inequality even worse.
Gilets Jaunes are planning a comeback on the 17th.
Those were pro fossil fuel boomers
ACAB
OK, so I've been justifying Russians because it's more risk if you go to a protest, and police can outright kill you without any problem (that we'll know about and consider fitting), and a different situation and tra-la-la, but honestly perhaps there are societies more cowardly in general with children brought up in obedience, and there are better societies.
People here exchanging experiences of throwing nasty shit right back at the police and still being free (of what it looks like from their comments), - that's something really inspiring.
And perhaps I'm a coward, haven't gone to a single protest in my life, except for a couple of speeches with unfortunate audience, eh, not sure how that affected what transpired after.
"after picking up a stun grenade" seems like an important detail
The difference between a heroic deed that saves a bunch of people from something and a foolhardy mistake that costs you a limb or your life is mostly down to luck.
You seem to be missing the part where they threw an explosive into a crowd of people.
From my perspective this wasn't a 'luck' situation.
A criminal assaulted a crowd of people with explosives. It's just a coincidence that the criminal is a cop in this case. It's not 'unlucky' that they were assaulted.
When they throw a high explosive into a crowd of children, anything that happens after that is theiir fault
The child probably thought it was a tear gas canister or non-explosive.
A stun grenade is not a high explosive. Not that it isn't shitty to throw stun grenades at school children.
It's actually so shitty that even they understood how shitty it is and stopped doing it. At least for now. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqe8r9811n9jo
Yeah, how unlucky that grown men shot explosives into crowds of children. There's no way this could have been avoided by the adults who projectiled bursting ammunition into a group of underaged students.
Truly in the hands of fate.
That's the police version. Comments by direct witnesses who were next to it say it hit the hand directly, the kid didn't pick up anything.
And even then, you'd still be in the wrong. What the actual fuck.
"Violent footage" "police outright attacked" yeah throw the entire propaganda article to the trash.
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Important safety tip. If you plan on throwing stuff back at the cops, stun grenades, tear gas canisters, etc, use a lacrosse stick.
Of course, having a lacrosse stick in a riot is an excuse for them to beat you mercilessly.
Of course, they don't need an excuse.
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