On Saturday 17 October 2026, the Union syndicale des lycéens had called, like several organisations, to join that day the “large demonstration” (translated) of the “yellow vests” (translated) (AFP dispatch of 14 October, picked up by Sud Radio). In Saint-Étienne, the national mobilisation “against the high cost of living” (translated) (ICI) begins on place Jean-Jaurès: “several hundred people” (translated) from 2 p.m., high-school students, families, yellow vests, trade unionists (ICI). The march initially proceeds “broadly calmly” (translated); it is on arriving outside the Centre Deux shopping centre, around 3 p.m., that “the situation began to degenerate with a tense face-off with the police” (translated) (ICI). For nearly an hour, thousands of protesters face law enforcement who prevent the march from advancing: tear gas on the one hand, firework mortar shots and fireworks on the other (ICI, franceinfo, TL7).
It is there, “shortly before 4 p.m.” (translated) according to Le Progrès (whose subscribers-only article could be read only in its opening part), after “an enormous detonation” (translated) and cries of “Medic!” (translated), that a 17-year-old teenager is seriously injured in the hand. He is first attended to by healthcare workers present in the march, then taken to hospital (France 3, Actu17).
The sources diverge on the cause. The AFP, according to “a source close to the case” (translated), writes that he had his hand torn off by a grenade “thrown by law enforcement” (translated) and “that he reportedly tried to pick up” (translated) (dispatch picked up by Actu.fr, BFMTV and France 3); according to the first elements communicated to the AFP by members of the medical staff of the demonstration who attended to him, the young man “reportedly told the rescuers he had picked up the projectile before it exploded” (translated) (France 3, Actu17, TL7, Actu.fr). The Loire prefecture confirms to ICI that he is seriously injured in one hand; however, it does not comment on the causes and does not confirm the version of protesters who speak of a grenade thrown by the police: for it, the circumstances of this injury have yet to be clarified (ICI). franceinfo (Radio France) writes, “learns ICI Saint-Etienne Loire from the Loire prefecture” (translated), that he had his hand torn off by a grenade, whereas the ICI article attributes to the prefecture only the words “seriously injured in one hand” (translated); franceinfo also writes that “at this stage, it is not known whether the teenager was hit by a grenade or whether it is a stun grenade” (translated) nor whether he picked it up before the explosion “or whether it landed on him” (translated). The Minister of the Interior declares: “We are told it would be a gendarmerie grenade. I cannot confirm it. There will obviously be an investigation” (translated) (franceinfo).
The Socialist mayor of Saint-Étienne refers to “a young man (who) had a hand torn off by a grenade” (translated), sends him his support as well as to those close to him and says: “Such a tragedy should never happen” (translated) (ICI, France 3). TL7 presents these words as taken from a statement, published while he was “still in the crisis cell on Saturday evening” (translated), and the mayor tells ICI on 19 October: “We were at the urban supervision centre, with the municipal police and my two elected officials for security, on Saturday, obviously, for very long hours.” (translated) No source read says he was present at Centre Deux; ICI writes on 18 October “torn off by a grenade according to the mayor” (translated). The same day, he denounces “scenes of riots and violence of great gravity (…) that absolutely nothing can justify” (translated), citing looted shops, destroyed street furniture, a vandalised town hall annex and an attempted intrusion into the town hall prevented by the municipal police (France 3).
The age is given differently: the prefecture had first spoken of a “young adult” (translated) (France 3, Actu17); the public prosecutor’s office speaks of a 17-year-old minor (Actu17, France 3). Amateur videos of the injury have been published on social media (Actu17); they were not viewed here. The coordinates of this entry are those of the Centre Deux shopping centre, cited by all sources; Le Progrès places the scene at the level of number 39 rue du Onze-Novembre. The live blog of Le Progrès writes at 7:08 p.m. that the right hand of this 17-year-old “was in shreds” (translated) and that he “reportedly explained having picked up a grenade before it exploded” (translated); at 3:31 p.m., its journalists on the spot write that “several sting-ball grenades were thrown by law enforcement” (translated) at Centre Deux, without linking them to this injury.
Follow-up
The Saint-Étienne public prosecutor’s office announces an investigation “seeking the causes of the injuries” (translated), entrusted to the IGPN (police internal affairs), which “will make it possible to establish the origin and causes of these injuries” (translated) (Actu17); the prosecutor says she has “no news at this hour of the minor’s injuries” (translated) (France 3). On Sunday 18 October, the prefect of the Loire announces that the IGGN (gendarmerie internal affairs) is co-seized with the IGPN: “I can officially announce to you that the IGPN and the IGGN were seized as early as Saturday at 5:00 p.m., that is barely an hour after the incident” (translated); he speaks of “a human tragedy, whatever the circumstances that it is for the justice system to determine” (translated) (France 3). He reports about sixty arrests in the city until 6 a.m. on Sunday (France 3). Le Progrès writes on 19 October, about the prosecutor’s statement (which speaks of “serious injuries” (translated)), that he is “still hospitalised” (translated) and that he “has however permanently lost his hand” (translated), without saying where this information comes from. No source read says which grenade was used or which unit was facing him: only the minister mentions, without confirming it, a gendarmerie grenade, and ICI writes that gendarmes were called in as reinforcements for the police officers in the afternoon.