A teenager’s hand was torn off when high school protesters clashed with riot police in northern France on Monday, a local official said, on the eve of a national demonstration by the pupils’ union against underfunding, overcrowding and dilapidation. Regional newspaper La Voix du Nord said the 15-year-old lost his hand and part of his forearm after picking up a police dispersal grenade that detonated in the city of Lens as the wave of school protests entered its third week. François-Xavier Lauch, prefect of Pas-de-Calais, declined to comment on the exact circumstances, saying that between 200 and 250 protesters had been throwing objects at police. Six months before the elections to replace President Emmanuel Macron, his government and the far-right National Rally, led by presidential candidate Marine Le Pen, have accused far-left legislators and mayors of France Insoumise (LFI) of stoking the protests. The LFI denies the accusation. Speaking after meeting with students in the northern suburbs of Paris, Education Minister Edouard Geffray said participation in the protests had been declining in recent days. The government would launch a platform for students to express their discontent and put in place an action plan for specific schools, he said. French police accused of excessive force Human rights groups accuse police of using heavy-handed tactics against minors, including batons, tear gas and flash guns. Get the latest national news Get the latest Canadian news delivered to your inbox as it happens so you don’t miss any breaking news. Among several investigations into police methods, authorities are examining the case of a 16-year-old boy who suffered an eye injury after police fired rubber bullets into a crowd of protesters, according to his friends. The Interior Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the allegation of excessive use of force. The LFI, led by presidential candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon, denies encouraging violence and accuses the government of politicizing the issue and neglecting the interests of students. France’s Justice Ministry said 5,060 people have been arrested since the protests began, 87 percent of them minors. More than 1,800 people are being prosecuted, including 1,483 minors, the ministry said, without specifying the crimes. He said 790 cases had been dismissed. The protests have put more pressure on a government trying to reduce a budget deficit as investor concerns about state finances grow, briefly lifting the yield on French 10-year bonds to a 24-year high above five percent last week and raising the likely cost of future borrowing. The protests began in September in Paris, focusing on poor suburbs, before spreading to the entire country. The government says they have been kidnapped and transformed into urban violence. “Our priority is to restore order,” government spokeswoman Maud Bregeon told CNews television. Between 400 and 500 high schools were closed or partially closed ahead of Tuesday’s national protest. Two dozen schools have been burned or looted, 78 teachers have been injured in the protests and at least 190 students have been injured, Geffray said. He said the goal was for classes in the affected schools to restart on Wednesday. More about the world More videos “We are going to continue blocking until the government listens to us,” said Sami Karen, 18, who was demonstrating outside the Charles de Foucauld secondary school in Paris. “As long as they don’t listen to us, we won’t stop this fight.” On Monday, BFMTV showed footage of police and students clashing in Lille in northern France, tear gas being used in Toulouse in the southwest, and a fire burning as people tried to break into a school in central Paris. Carole Zerbib, principal of the vandalized Lycee Vauquelin in Paris, said it had been attacked by a “very determined” group in hoods and masks who had tried to break down the front door and then lit a fire, forcing the school to be “It was very violent and it happened very quickly,” she said, adding that she did not believe the attackers were from the school. Since last Monday, 5,000 people, 85 percent of them teenagers, have been arrested and dozens have been injured. Teachers and citizens have been attacked and the material damage is estimated at millions of euros. Bregeon said the government would fast-track a bill on Oct. 27 to hold young people who have damaged property, or their parents, financially responsible. Security officials fear that protests organized Tuesday in central Paris in particular could spark more violence amid concerns that anarchist and far-left groups may try to take over. Sophie Binet, head of the CGT union, told TF1 television on Monday that her members would attend Tuesday’s protests to protect students. “We are dismayed by what we have seen in the last 10 days and by the unprecedented repression that the government has organized,” he said.