Following the suspension after a 14-year-old student lost his hand in an accident involving a flashbang grenade, French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez announced that the use of these acoustic grenades would be suspended for demonstrations organized by the high school student movement. The freeze reflected acute sensitivity surrounding minor involvement in public protests and raised immediate questions about the tools available to security forces.
Prior to the October 17 protests, the broader political environment shifted. On October 17, 2026, France braced for nationwide demonstrations organized around the rising cost of living, alongside a renewed mobilization of the Yellow Vests. Authorities calculated that between 70,000 and 140,000 people were expected to protest across the country on Saturday. Confronted with the scale of the expected crowd, Nuñez called for a crisis cell to be convened to oversee the state's security deployment.
Addressing his decision to permit the weapons once again, Nuñez drew a clear distinction between youth demonstrations and broader adult unrest. "I suspended the use of this flashbang grenade solely for the high school movement," he explained, clarifying that the earlier prohibition had never been intended as a blanket ban across all civil actions. As social tension mounted over living costs, the Interior Minister maintained that law enforcement needed access to intermediate weapons to respond to severe disorder.
Nuñez emphasized that authorizing acoustic grenades did not mean their deployment would become routine.
Nuñez emphasized that authorizing acoustic grenades did not mean their deployment would become routine. Stating that such weapons remain an exceptional recourse in French policing, he observed, "You have to know that they are used very little." Under the guidelines established for police and gendarmes, deployment remains bound by specific conditions: officers are instructed to intervene in cases of active violence or direct threats to security forces.
To ensure field commanders understood the boundaries of the mandate, Nuñez articulated his directives for law enforcement during the October 17 mobilizations. "The instructions I have given are very clear: police officers and gendarmes must be able to use all the intermediate weapons at their disposal," he declared, reiterating that officers must retain the capability to defend themselves and secure public space if situations deteriorate.
The Interior Minister framed the conditional return of flashbang grenades as a safeguard against severe violence occurring on the periphery of public gatherings. "Tomorrow, if there were to be extremely serious urban violence on the margins of a march, or elsewhere, obviously this type of armament can be used," Nuñez warned. As tens of thousands gathered nationwide, the decision placed acoustic grenades back into the security apparatus, held in reserve for extreme urban violence.