Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez ordered the pause “until the facts have been clarified,” the BBC reported Wednesday, after conflicting accounts of the Lens incident: authorities say the boy picked up the grenade, while students allege he was hit directly by an officer’s shot. The police watchdog IGPN has opened 18 investigations into whether officers used proportionate force during the protests.
The move follows weeks of escalating school demonstrations that began in mid-September, with hundreds of thousands marching Tuesday, 488 arrested, and more than 500 schools fully or partially closed Wednesday. Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu blamed the radical-left LFI party for sowing chaos ahead of April presidential elections; a fourth protest round is planned for Thursday.