A 15-year-old protester had his hand blown off on Monday in the northern French town of Lens, local prefect François-Xavier Lauch said, as a wave of school protests continued across the country. The teenager was demonstrating against what protesters describe as France’s dilapidated and understaffed schools.

According to the Guardian, the schoolboy lost his hand after picking up a police stun grenade. Al Jazeera reports that a police watchdog is investigating the Lens blast as the nationwide protests over teacher shortages and school conditions entered a third week.

Hundreds of schools remained fully or partially closed on Monday as teenagers continued to blockade buildings, the Guardian reported, describing the demonstrations as the biggest youth protest movement in years and one the government has struggled to contain.

In response, the prime minister ordered ministers to tackle the students’ five major demands, including organising replacement teachers and carrying out school repairs, according to the Guardian.

The unrest in France came amid a wider period of political tension across Europe. In Spain, prime minister Pedro Sánchez called a snap election for 29 November, just days after rightwing parties blocked his minority government’s emergency measures on housing amid widespread protests, the Guardian reported.

Sánchez framed the vote as a choice between “regressing” under a “far-right coalition” or “keeping moving forward” with his progressive administration. He said the election would be about who guides Spain through a period of disruption amid high political tensions, global instability, the climate emergency, and uncertainty posed by the rise of AI. The conservative People’s Party welcomed the announcement, posting “At last” on X alongside an election video set to the EU’s anthem, “Ode to Joy.”