Student, 15, has hand blown off by police stun grenade during French mass protests

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. An investigation into the incident has been opened, local prefect Francois-Xavier Lauch told reporters, according to French paper La Voix du Nord. 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.The protests began in late September at a high school in a Paris suburb over teacher shortages before spreading nationwide.“Our priority is to restore order,” government spokeswoman Maud Bregeon told CNews television on Monday.Education minister Edouard Geffray Geffray said that 24 schools had been burned or ransacked and that 78 teaching staff had been injured since the beginning of the demonstrations.More to follow...