‘I am still traumatised’: French police accused of brutalising minors

Enzo, 17, says police struck him with a baton during a demonstration, leaving him hospitalised with a bloodied head and requiring stitches. Eden, 14, suffered a smashed jaw after a tear gas grenade was fired at his face, while Mael, 16, lost sight in her right eye after being hit by a police rubber-bullet launcher. High school students have protested since mid-September against an education system they say has failed them, and lawyers and protesters accuse police of fuelling tensions rather than de-escalating them. French authorities have defended police actions, but lawyers and experts warn that violence against minors is deepening the divide between the state and its citizens.