Accident → people

In Sélestat, part of a 16-year-old student's forearm torn off by an aerosol can propelled out of a fire

Accident. The sources describe this injury as accidental: it is not violence. It is attributed neither to law enforcement nor to protesters and is not included in any of the site’s figures.

On 2 October in Sélestat, an aerosol can thrown into a fire tears off part of a 16-year-old student's forearm, per the mayor; another teenager is reportedly burned. Investigation opened.

Date: 2 October 2026
Place: Lycée Docteur-Koeberlé, Sélestat (67)
Context: Gathering
Legal follow-up: Investigation under way

What happened

Accident → peopleEstablishedMutilation
Outside the Koeberlé lycée, an aerosol can thrown into a fire lit by young people becomes a projectile and hits a 16-year-old student in the arm, above the elbow. France 3 Grand Est describes images of the scene in which the young people are seen taking turns throwing objects into the flames, including aerosols that explode producing jets of flame, and one of these cans, violently projected, hits a student in the arm. The mayor of Sélestat, who was present, says that “part of the forearm” was torn off, below the elbow, and that the police officers present applied a double tourniquet; the young person is taken by helicopter to Strasbourg. The accounts diverge on the act: according to the mayor, a protester picks up an unexploded can and throws it on the ground, it shoots off like a projectile and hits his friend; according to a female student quoted by France 3, an acquaintance put a bottle of deodorant into the flames. No one is identified as the author in the sources read. The severity (loss of part of the forearm) comes from the mayor, who was present at the scene; no source says whether the young person keeps the use of his arm.
Other · High-school student, 16
Accident → peopleAllegedMinor injury
According to the mayor of Sélestat (ICI), a younger teenager is also injured by the same can: burned on the stomach by the gases, he is taken care of by the emergency room. The mayor adds that another protester had been injured earlier in the morning by a fragment of a gas cylinder, not seriously. No other source read confirms these two injuries; France 3 writes that the sub-prefect mentions only one young person hospitalised.
Other · Teenager

Established: recognised by a magistrate, a video authenticated by a news outlet, or a medical report. Alleged: reported, neither confirmed nor denied. Disputed: reported, then denied by an authority.

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On Friday 2 October 2026, around 10 a.m., young people gather outside the Koeberlé lycée in Sélestat (Bas-Rhin). According to the town hall (ICI), about 500 protesters had first gathered outside the Schwilgué lycée before moving to Koeberlé; at both sites, small fires are lit with cardboard and pallets, “without any other damage or tension with law enforcement” (translated), and aerosol cans are regularly thrown into the flames to make them explode (ICI, France 3).

In mid-morning, one of these cans, projected, hits a 16-year-old student in the arm. According to a female student present, “his arm was bloody, there was a hole, you could see his flesh, his bone” (translated) (France 3). The mayor, on the spot, describes a forearm “torn off below the elbow” and thanks the police officers who applied a double tourniquet: “If the police had not been there, the young person would have bled out” (translated) (ICI). The injured person is evacuated by helicopter to Strasbourg. The students, in shock, flee or have panic attacks (France 3).

What is established, what is not

The injury, the aerosol can and the fire are described by both media outlets, and France 3 saw the images filmed by students. The precise act varies according to the accounts (see the first fact): the mayor speaks of an unexploded can thrown on the ground, a female student of a bottle of deodorant put into the flames, Seven Radio of a can handled by the injured person himself. No source names an author, and none speaks of an act directed against the victim. France 3 speaks of an “accident” (translated): the entry is classified as such, with no author.

High-school students quoted by France 3 mention one or two other injured people (in the foot or kneecap, in the stomach); this information is confirmed neither by the firefighters nor by the sub-prefect.

Follow-up

France 3 writes that “an investigation has been opened to determine responsibilities in the accident” (translated). The injured person is being treated in a Strasbourg hospital. No investigation result, complaint or subsequent health update is reported in the articles read as of 2026-10-05.

Sources

Law enforcementProtestersBothPeopleProperty only

Entry updated on 7 October 2026.