Anger of high school students: The teenager injured in Lens denies having picked up the grenade which tore off his hand

His hand was blown off by a stun grenade. During a demonstration on the sidelines of a high school blockade on Monday in Lens in Pas-de-Calais, Evan, 15, was seriously injured. The high school student “denies having picked up the grenade” which tore off his left hand and “denies any participation in violence”, says his lawyer in a press release this Saturday.

Friday, the Béthune prosecutor, Étienne Thieffry, based on the first elements of the investigation entrusted to the IGPN, estimated that the firing of the police grenade was done “in accordance with the operating procedure” prescribed by the regulations. He also indicated that “all the testimonies, with the exception of one, converge on the fact that the grenade was fired at a long distance (80 meters)”, that it “landed on the ground”, before one of the demonstrators “grabbed it until it exploded”, specifying however that “there is no video available to investigators allowing them to visualize the explosion of the grenade”.

“Evan is the victim”

“Evan formally contests the version of the facts retained by the prosecution,” responds Christine Bouquet-Wattez, the lawyer for the teenager and his mother. “His family is surprised to see the police version already supported by the prosecutor, even though Evan has not yet been interviewed by the police, no direct image of the facts is available and the testimonies collected present discrepancies,” she continues.

“We must point out the obvious,” emphasizes the lawyer: the teenager, whose left hand was torn off by the explosion of a stun grenade, “is the victim.” “No law enforcement operation can justify a teenager losing a hand,” she insists, deploring that “Evan is being made responsible for his own mutilation.”

The investigation continues

Hearing on Thursday, the teenager's mother filed a complaint "for the injuries suffered by her son", according to the Béthune prosecutor. The latter also indicated that the investigation, which is trying in particular to determine whether the high school student picked up the grenade or whether it landed on him, “is continuing”.

This case, among other cases of serious injuries to high school students attributed to the police, has aroused strong emotion and criticism on the left on the methods of maintaining order since the start of the high school student protest movement in mid-September.

In response, Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez ordered on Wednesday the suspension of the use of stun grenades in the face of high school mobilization, until the circumstances of the tragedy in Lens have been clarified.