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.
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.
Maybe a big, brightly coloured plastic toy shovel.
Not thermoplastic, as yeah that’s not going to survive the heat of an active smoke/gas grenade.
Lacrosse does not exist as a sport in France
If you tell them the name they’ll work it out.
It means “the stick” or “the [sport] stick” in French.
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.
I imagine the student thought it was a tear gas canister instead of the cops throwing explosives at children.
In the comments, it’s mentioned that the police claim that he picked up the grenade, but there is an investigation into whether that is the case or it was launched at him directly.
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.
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.
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.
Brilliant!
Username checks out