Evan, a 15-year-old studying carpentry at a vocational high school, had a hand blown off in the explosion of a police stun grenade outside a school protest in Lens, northern France, on 5 October. His lawyer, Bertrand Wattez, said: “His injuries resemble war injuries.”
Wattez said Evan had gone to school to attend class and discovered a protest under way. He said Evan had not taken part in violence and denied the Béthune state prosecutor’s assertion that the grenade had been picked up from the ground. When the grenade exploded, Evan lost his left hand, several fingers from his right hand and suffered injuries to other parts of his body. He remained in hospital “in a very difficult condition” and his family had filed a criminal complaint, Wattez said.
Another boy, Eden, 14 – who had been near a school protest in Saint-Ouen-l’Aumône, north-west of Paris – suffered extensive facial injuries, including two fractures to his jaw, the loss of his bottom teeth and all his top teeth broken after he was allegedly hit by a shot from a grenade launcher.
His lawyer, Elsa Marcel, said the shot from a grenade launcher was fired at close range, from a distance of 1.5 metres. “This is the equivalent of war weaponry,” she said. The family has filed a legal complaint for attempted murder.
“I don’t think the British are aware that their money is being used to beat French kids.”
