Lawyer and opposition politician Lim Tean, 61, received three new charges in court on Oct. 9 for allegedly absconding from Singapore while on bail.

Lim was supposed to surrender himself on Aug. 3 to begin his jail term for practising law without a valid certificate, but he failed to show up.

He was later arrested at an apartment complex in Johor Bahru on Aug. 6 and deported back to Singapore on Aug. 11.

Three new charges

According to a Singapore Police Force (SPF) news release, Lim was handed three new charges in relation to his abscondment.

First was for failing to surrender himself to custody knowingly and without reasonable excuse, which carries a fine, jail term of up to three years, or both.

Second was for leaving Singapore and failing to present a valid passport or evidence of his identity or Singapore Citizenship at the point of departure, which carries a fine of up to S$2,000, jail term of up to six months, or both.

Third was for his attempt to avoid serving a court-imposed jail sentence, which carries a fine, jail term of up to seven years, or both.

In total, Lim now faces seven charges.

His other charges include two for criminal breach of trust in relation to his law firm business, one for unlawful stalking, and one for refusing to answer a public servant during questioning.

Previous conviction and jail sentence

Lim was previously convicted on Jul. 26, 2024, of three charges under the Legal Profession Act for practicing law without a valid certificate.

He was initially handed six weeks' jail and a S$1,000 fine.

The sentence was enhanced on Feb. 23, 2026, to three months and one week imprisonment following an appeal by the prosecution.

Lim was declared bankrupt in April.

He was ordered to surrender at the State Courts on Jul. 20, 2026, to begin his sentence, but he successfully applied for a deferment.

He was then ordered to surrender on Aug. 3, 2026, but he failed to do so.

During the course of this case, Lim was out on bail and surrendered his passport to the police as a condition of bail.

When he was arrested in Johor, he was not in possession of his passport.

His bailor eventually forfeited S$45,000.

CNA reported that Lim appeared in court on Oct. 9 via video link.

A pre-trial conference for his case will take place on Oct. 23.

A woman in China has gone viral for having a baby at 60 years old.

On Sep. 17, the woman, known as Zhang, gave birth to her daughter by caesarean section at Zhumadian Central Hospital in Henan Province, central China.

Speaking to Red Star News, she revealed that she had lost her only child at the time, four years ago.

She and her husband later decided to have children again.

Zhang gave birth to a boy two years ago, known as GuoGuo.

He was reportedly excited to meet his baby sister, according to the South China Morning Post (SCMP).

Zhang said that she decided to have two children so that they could accompany each other when they’re older.

Not concerned about her age

Zhang revealed that her husband was initially not supportive of her having children as he was concerned for her well-being.

However, she reassured him that she could manage and even continued to prepare meals and do household chores while pregnant.

Zhang and her husband are both retired and are focusing on raising their children.

Zhang said she feels youthful and isn’t concerned by other people’s disapproval of having children at an older age.

In her eyes, she is "only 28 years old" and believes she can live a long life, SCMP reported.

She attributes this to her family’s history of longevity.

Her father had lived till 100, and her mother, at 94, still has good hearing and vision.

The air quality across Singapore continued to worsen over the early hours of Oct. 9.

According to the National Environment Agency (NEA) website, the overall 24-hour Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) reading was between 102 and 147 at 2am, within the unhealthy range.

It climbed to between 117 and 173 by 10am.

At 9am, the central region logged a 170 24-hour PSI reading, the highest recorded in Singapore in 2026, according to CNA.

When 24-hour PSI readings are in the unhealthy range, the NEA advises the public to reduce prolonged or strenuous outdoor physical exertion.

Haziest in the west

Based on the one-hour PM2.5 readings, the west was the haziest region in the country for most of the night.

It hit 171 at 2am, within the high range that is between 151 and 250.

However, the readings fluctuated afterwards and finally dipped to 114 by 10am, returning to an elevated range.

Central Singapore remained in the high range from 11pm to 2am, with the highest reading at 163 at 11pm.

The numbers gradually dropped, but rose slightly at 10am to 142, up from 137 an hour before.

Readings for the rest of the country largely remained in the elevated range.

The one-hour PM2.5 concentration readings serve as a real-time gauge of the air during hazy conditions, thus providing the most current indication of air quality.

When they are in the elevated range, the NEA advises healthy people to reduce strenuous outdoor activity for the next hour.

The elderly, pregnant women, children, and people with chronic heart or lung conditions should avoid such activity.

Smoke plumes from Indonesia

On Oct. 8, the NEA posted on Facebook that moderate to dense smoke plumes from southern and central Sumatra and West Kalimantan were observed to drift towards Singapore.

The agency believes that the prevailing southeasterly or southerly winds may continue to send smoke haze drifting towards Singapore.

The United States will livestream the firing squad execution of Nidal Hasan, a former army psychiatrist who killed 13 people at the Fort Hood military base in 2009, the Pentagon said.

Hasan, 56, is set to become the first person to be executed by firing squad by the U.S. military since World War II in 1945.

The execution is slated to take place on Dec. 3 at the same Texas base Hasan carried out his shooting.

Hegseth pushed for it

A Pentagon official told Reuters on the condition of anonymity: "It will be livestreamed. Details will follow."

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed in an X post the plans to broadcast the execution.

He championed executing Hasan by firing squad.

Hegseth told the Human Events Daily programme that deciding to execute Hasan by firing squad at Fort Hood on a Thursday at 1pm was a "no-brainer".

It is scheduled to fall on the approximate time and day of the week at the location of the 2009 shooting.

"We'll make sure that people are able to watch it, that it's public. Because people need to understand that ... there's serious consequences for these types of things," Hegseth said.

Asked if Hasan had made any final requests, Hegseth said: "Don't care. We'll see him on Dec. 3."

@alarabiya_eng

“People need to understand that there are serious consequences.” US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says the execution of Nidal Hasan, convicted of killing 13 people and wounding dozens of others in the 2009 mass shooting at Fort Hood in Texas, will be public.

♬ original sound - Al Arabiya English

Sentenced to death in August 2013

A military jury sentenced Hasan to death in August 2013.

He was found guilty of 45 counts of premeditated murder and attempted premeditated murder.

He had used a laser-sighted handgun in a medical facility.

The shooting came weeks before Hasan was scheduled to be deployed to Afghanistan.

He became partially paralysed and confined to a wheelchair after getting shot by police during his arrest.

Rarity of public executions

Executions in the U.S. are not televised as the courts have blocked media from doing so, Reuters reported.

The last legally sanctioned public execution in the U.S. occurred in 1936, death penalty experts said.

A young Black man who had been convicted of raping a white woman was hanged and thousands watched.

The anti-capital punishment group Death Penalty Action said Hasan's execution would be the first military execution since 1961, which was carried out by hanging.

The last known executions by U.S. military firing squads were in 1945, Death Penalty Information Center also reported.

A military law expert said the death row inmate would need to sue in federal court if he wanted to block a public display of his death.

Trump approved execution by firing squad

A U.S. president must approve an execution by firing squad.

President Donald Trump did so on Hegseth's recommendation, the Pentagon said on Oct. 5.

The White House declined to say if Trump supported the livestreaming and referred questions to the Pentagon.

Hasan's execution comes after the botched lethal injection of a Tennessee woman a week ago.

The mother of the three siblings who died in a fatal accident on Oct. 8 had apparently told them that all schools in Johor, Malaysia, were closed due to the haze and they did not need to attend.

Sin Chew Daily reported, however, that the children had insisted on going.

Proved school closed

Prior to the fatal collision at about 7am, the 43-year-old woman told the two younger siblings, aged 11 and eight, about the closure.

Since they reportedly insisted on attending school, their 18-year-old brother drove them there to prove it was closed.

After arriving at the school about 2km away, the two younger siblings were assured it was closed and headed home.

They got into the accident about 200m away from their house.

Someone on the way to work then informed her that there had been an accident about 200m from her home, after which her husband and another son rushed down to the scene.

She then headed to the scene, where she was seen breaking down.

The woman has a total of six children, Sin Chew Daily reported.

An earlier report mentioned that following the collision, two siblings reportedly fell in front of the motorcycle, with another sibling flung onto a grassy slope nearby.

Among the three, two died on the spot, while another was taken to the hospital but subsequently pronounced dead, China Press reported.

Close relationship

According to Sin Chew Daily, one who wanted to play soccer had washed soccer shoes and arranged them neatly to be worn the next day.

Another child had been doing her homework the night before the accident and continued working on it in the morning.

The woman said that after she got into a car accident four months ago, her third child had helped to bring the younger siblings to school.

Singapore must "maintain trust" with China and the U.S. as a "useful partner", said Foreign Affairs Minister Vivian Balakrishnan on Oct. 7.

However, Singapore will continue to "refuse to choose" between the two powers, for as long as we are able. And not only that, Singapore must make clear that it won't be used by one party against the other, either as a proxy or a lever.

His comments were made at the Milken Institute Asia Summit in Singapore on Oct. 7, 2026, which took place at the Four Seasons Hotel.

Vivian participated in a dialogue moderated by Richard Ditizio, the chief executive officer of the Milken Institute, an American think tank based in California. 

He commented on various geopolitical subjects, such as the rise of AI and the U.S.-China relationship, and how they related to Singapore.

Singapore must "refuse to choose" between China and U.S.

With respect to the "dynamic" between the U.S. and China, Vivian said it is a "peculiarly sensitive and existential point" for Singapore, with both the U.S. and China being important to us.

Vivian pointed out that more than half of foreign direct investment (FDI) made by the U.S. in Southeast Asia goes to Singapore.

"So, is America important to Singapore as a source of FDI, a source of technology, and as an ultimate market? Yes, absolutely," he said.

On the other hand, he noted that there is no "other political entity in the world where 74 per cent of the population have Chinese ancestry", with linguistic, cultural and historical ties between the two countries.

This does not however mean that we should necessarily agree with China, he said. Singapore remains a multiracial, multilingual city-state in the heart of Southeast Asia.

Relations with both powers are vital for Singapore, and it will handle these relationships very carefully.

In practice, this means refusing to choose between the two.

Vivian said that "as far as we can do so, we will refuse to choose, because the moment you choose, you have lost strategic options and strategic latitude."

What is more, if Singapore is forced to choose, "either one of you, you may not like the final answer." But Vivian went on.

"Even that is not enough. I then have to go on to say that, in any case, “I am not going to be used by the other guy against you, as a proxy or as a lever.” We have to religiously say, “I will refuse to choose, and whilst I will be useful to you, I will not be made use of.”

The key challenge comes back to trust. The challenge for us is to maintain trust with both the United States and China, not as a vassal state or a tributary state, but as a small but hopefully relevant and useful partner, who is not to be made use of."

He further stressed that Singapore ought to "maintain a clear, steady, principled, consistent position" towards both the U.S. and China, in order to quell worries that Singapore is "acting on behalf" of either side.

Tumultuous times

Commenting on the current tumultuous state of the world and the disruptions caused by technological advances, Vivian noted the need to adapt and change, but questioned where "societies can change to cope with these differences".

He mused that those who will emerge better or stronger depends on who better masters new technology. In addition, successfully restructuring not just the economy, but whether it can keep societies together and avoid fractures and polarisation.

The challenge is in balancing all these issues, he added: "Fear and despair can cause paralysis in all societies at the precise moment that our societies need to restructure as quickly as possible to deal with both the promise and the peril."

"We’ve got our hands full, absolutely."

With respect to Singapore, he believes that the government has been "upfront with [the] population, not just on the upsides and the downsides, but also on the trade-offs that we are going to have to make collectively as a society, and without fracturing."

He called this the "missing ingredient" of many other political systems.

"That’s why you get the corrosive erosion of trust. Then, with diminished political capital, you just cannot make the decisions that need to be made, even though you know what the right thing to do is.

You are unable to convince your people, and you end up being a deer in the headlights, and there is a revolution going on, on all fronts.

It is something that we are working on."

Tech revolution?

However, Vivian also stressed that technological advances – in fields such as AI and biotech – represent an opportunity.

"The fact is that there is a role and there are rich pickings for middle and small powers in the midst of all this," he stated.

However, he cautioned against the associated dangers that come with AI in particular, such as the loss of control of AI agents or the use of AI by malicious actors.

Reflecting on the potential for AI to cause harm, he noted that AI agents are trained on material from the Internet, which includes negative aspects. He added that one should not be surprised that AI agents brought up on a "diet" of human thought and writings will also behave like humans.

"Now that can either be very scary, or it should be moment of great contemplation."

But he concluded the dialogue on an optimistic note, saying that there is a lot of good one can do in the current age.

A Singaporean man travelled to France with his family for a holiday — and stumbled upon a large student protest.

He subsequently got tear-gassed.

According to Shin Min Daily News (Shin Min), Ji Hongwen (transliteration), 64, was holidaying in Lyon with his wife and sister-in-law when they encountered the demonstrations.

The protest he encountered was part of a larger series of student demonstrations that has engulfed the whole of France recently, beginning in a high school in the suburb of Paris, but quickly spreading nationwide.

"A war zone"

Ji told Shin Min that his family had just finished strolling around a morning market and were having lunch when they heard a commotion from a distance.

Curious, he walked over, only to find that it was a student protest march.

Protestors and armoured police stood on opposite ends of the street, with the crowd throwing rocks and various objects at the police.

He said the demonstrators "burned garbage cans and other items along the street", with the whole street "fiercely ablaze".

The police were fully armed and fired tear gas at the protestors, causing them to scatter and flee.

According to Ji, the sound of gunshots from the tear gas was "incessant", and it was like a "war zone".

Tear-gassed

A tear gas canister then landed right next to him, causing him to tear up uncontrollably.

Ji ran with the students into the nearby alleys.

After about two minutes, his eyes began to recover.

He added that the student protestors were coordinated in their approach.

When a protestor was hit by tear gas, the other students would run up to them to provide eye drops.

Trip unaffected

Ji clarified that clashes were limited to specific parts of the city and public transport services were generally unaffected.

Afterwards, his group continued travelling as planned.

But it was memorable.

He said: "There was even a reporter next to me filming and documenting everything, it was really a unique travel experience!"

Tensions boiled over

According to France 24, the protests have been carried out and centre around French high school students.

The protests originated from a teachers' strike on Sep. 17 in a lycée in Créteil, a suburb of Paris.

A lycée is the French equivalent of a high school, preparing students for the baccalauréat national exam.

The Créteil teachers' strike soon found students joining them in solidarity, blockading the entrance of the school.

Soon after, similar demonstrations erupted in other high schools around France over common woes that are perceived to stem from a lack of resources afforded to education by the government.

Such problems include acute staff shortages, dilapidated school buildings, poor conditions during the recent French heatwaves, long school hours, and a university admissions system seen as opaque and unfair.

Reports indicated that 250,000 people have taken to the streets, with about 6,000 arrests made.

A 15-year-old teenager's hand was blown off after he picked up a grenade intended to be non-lethal.

Since 2022, a man has been taking legal action to seek over S$100,000 in restitution from his ex-girlfriend he believed he would marry, but was allegedly unfaithful to him.

Low, a Singaporean, claimed he gave Goh, a Malaysian, substantial financial benefits during the seven years they dated, totalling more than S$100,000 and RM21,600 (S$6,800).

They included sums to pay for her business ventures, her insurance premiums, and what he said was to be the couple's matrimonial home in Malaysia, according to a court judgement dated Oct. 5.

He argued that he made these payments believing that they were in a committed and exclusive relationship.

However, he later realised Goh had not been committed, and had allegedly instead been "falsely leading him on" because she wanted his money.

Goh argued that they were never in such a relationship.

Although she acknowledged that she received the financial benefits, she maintained that they were voluntary payments and gifts that Low chose to give her.

The relationship and its expenses

The couple met in 2008 while they were employed in the Singapore branch of the same company.

By the end of 2009, they were committed to a long-term romantic relationship, according to Low.

They dated from 2009 to 2015, when Low found out that Goh was in a relationship with another man, whom she later married.

During their relationship, he made payments towards her insurance premiums, personal expenses, and business ventures.

He also bought her a jewellery set intended as an engagement gift, and gave her access to a Malaysian savings account from which she made withdrawals.

He further claimed that he transferred a total of S$31,510 to her to purchase their eventual matrimonial home in Malaysia, and she held this sum and any proceeds from it on trust for him.

Was he mistaken?

Low's case mainly relies on his argument that he mistakenly believed Goh was committed to an exclusive relationship with him.

According to him, his expenditures were made under this alleged mistake.

He said that he was “not a high-income earner”, and would not have spent over S$100,000 on her if he had "believed she was simply a casual friend or even a non-exclusive romantic partner".

He added that he bought the jewellery set at Goh's request, after both of them discussed marriage and having children.

As for Goh, she argued that "at no point was the relationship defined as exclusive", and that Low's belief was "merely his own subjective assumption".

A default judgement

When Low first filed the lawsuit in February 2022, Goh did not participate in the proceedings, so a judgement in default was entered against her in September 2022.

Under the default judgement, she was ordered to pay Low S$100,802.99 and RM21,600 (S$6,800), along with interests and legal costs of S$2,781.20.

Low engaged Malaysian solicitors to enforce this, serving the papers to her at her registered residential address in Johor Bahru, but she did not respond.

He eventually commenced bankruptcy proceedings against Goh in Malaysia, and this finally prompted her to seek to challenge the judgement in Singapore.

In April 2026, she applied to set aside the default judgement in Singapore, claiming that she "did not receive the documents purportedly served" on her as she had blocked Low on her Malaysian number.

However, Deputy Registrar Lewis Tan pointed out that the papers were sent by Low's solicitors, and they used several means to serve them to her besides WhatsApp, including her Facebook and Instagram accounts.

Tan argued that Goh was aware of Singapore proceedings but only acted when the threat of enforcement became real.

The judgement also noted that Low said she only saw Goh occasionally from 2009 to 2013, and stopped seeing him in 2013 after meeting another man, whom she married in 2015.

"However, this timeline does not cohere with the benefits conferred by [Goh], which began in 2009 but increased from 2013, after she had supposedly stopped seeing him."

Case reopened

Ultimately, Tan said that the present evidence favours Low's claims, as it does not suggest he had reason to doubt the exclusivity of their relationship.

But that is not the end of the inquiry, Tan said.

He argued that alternative conventional causes of action were likely available to Low, undermining his case for unjust enrichment.

Despite Goh's "inordinate delay" in applying to set aside the default judgement, Tan also pointed out Low's own delay as he waited more than eight years after the last alleged transfer to Goh before commencing proceedings.

The alleged transfers for purchasing the Malaysian property were made in tranches, the last in December 2013, but Low only took legal action more than eight years later in February 2022.

By that time, memories have faded, and Low himself was unable to produce contemporaneous evidence of the transfers, some of which were made in cash, Tan said.

He believes Goh raised substantial defences that should be properly determined at trial, and so decided to set aside the default judgement entirely and to hear both parties' cases again at trial.

The owner of Sumo Salad, who was found dead at the foot of a Bukit Timah housing block in 2025, had reportedly been under stress over a workplace injury claim made against her.

Despite the insurer paying for some of the worker's hospital bills, she was said to have been distressed over the possibility of having to pay additional compensation, reported Lianhe Zaobao.

The 44-year-old woman had alleged via social media posts on Jul. 18, 2025, that a former staff member had orchestrated a fall to file a false work injury claim.

A coroner's inquiry hearing on Oct. 8, 2026, heard that the woman had initially attempted suicide that same day.

She was sent to the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) but later discharged against medical advice.

She was found dead the next day on Jul. 19, 2025.

Mothership understands that a gag order imposed covers the identities of the witnesses in the inquiry, as well as the deceased's residential address.

Attempted suicide

The woman was initially found drunk and lying at Changi Beach at about 3am on Jul. 18, 2025, according to Zaobao.

First responders recounted that she had said she wanted to die and was scammed of money without elaborating further.

She was later apprehended under the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) Act and taken to Changi General Hospital before being transferred to IMH.

The woman was discharged against medical advice that same day.

It was also revealed in court that the woman had visited a hospital psychiatric department in late June 2025 and was prescribed medicine for depression, Zaobao reported.

She told her doctor at the time that she felt guilty because her work kept her away from her children for extended periods, and that her company was also facing difficulties.

However, the doctor at the time did not notice any suicidal tendencies.

Found dead

The next morning on Jul. 19, 2025, the woman went to a public housing block after telling her husband she was going out to exercise.

The husband said this was her usual routine, Zaobao reported.

Residents who crossed paths with her said she looked "normal" that day.

A resident saw her carrying a styrofoam box containing "colourful objects" while taking the lift upstairs.

The woman was later found dead at the foot of the block.

A suicide note was subsequently found on her laptop.

Stressed over workplace injury claim

The woman was reportedly stressed about a foreign worker who had been sending medical bills to her after a workplace injury.

The worker had also said she would be making a claim for total permanent incapacity against her.

She was also worried that the insurance company would not cover the full amount.

Three days before her death, the woman had also emailed the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) clarifying if she had to pay new medical bills.

In another email, she had questioned why the worker was still able to walk normally after her injury.

It was also revealed that after being discharged from IMH, the woman spoke by phone with an MOM official, reiterating her concerns.

She was reportedly told by the official that she should provide more information to the insurance company instead.

According to Zaobao, the investigators have closed the case as a suicide.

They noted that the police and MOM have launched an investigation into the migrant worker's workers' compensation claim, but did not disclose whether the investigation was complete or ongoing.

Helplines

If you or someone you know are in mental distress, here are some hotlines you can call to seek help, advice, or just a listening ear:

• National mindline.sg Hotline: 1771 (24 hours)
• National mindline.sg WhatsApp: 66691771 (24 hours)
• SOS 24-hour Hotline: 1-767
• Singapore Association for Mental Health: 1800-283-7019
• Centre for Domestic Employees: 1800 225 5233 (24 hours)
• Foreign Domestic Worker Association for Social Support and Training: 1800 339 4357 (24 hours)
• HOME (migrant worker): +65 6341 5535 (WhatsApp / Viber / SMS)
• HOME (domestic worker): +65 9787 3122 (WhatsApp / SMS / Call)
• SHECARES@SCWO: Call: 8001 01 4616 | WhatsApp: 8985 5528 (For targets of online harms)
• National Anti-Violence and Sexual Harassment Helpline (NAVH): 1800-777-0000

A woman attacked with an aerosol flamethrower in the streets.

A teenager losing a hand to a grenade.

A local mayor stretches himself fully like a mother hen, trying to form a barrier between French riot police and protesting students behind him.

Tens of thousands have taken to the streets, not just in the capital, Paris, but in French cities all across the nation, from Lille in the north to Marseille in the south.

These protests are being initiated and led by school children aged 15-18, but at times with the support of their teachers, and even local mayors.

What are they protesting, why is the protest turning violent, and what political implications does this have?

Long days and crumbling schools

French students have turned out in the tens of thousands to protest the state of their schools, both physical and academic.

These students are mainly between the ages of 15 and 18, part of France's lycée system.

Le Monde reports leaking, crumbling school buildings that reach 40°C in the summer and are unheated during the winter, requiring children to wear coats while in class; and The Guardian also shares complaints about “rat-infested buildings.”

There are also concerns about academic workload, with students complaining that the curriculum restricts time for other pursuits, and that the university admissions process, critical for determining future outcomes, is plagued by opacity.

This is coupled with concerns about the school system's teacher shortages, with students reliant on temporary teachers for long periods when their original teachers quit or take leaves of absence abruptly.

Perhaps the most stinging critique is that these problems disproportionately affect public schools in poor areas, with an education analyst with the OECD telling The Guardian that there was a “marked gap” between students from advantaged and disadvantaged schools.

The BBC notes that teacher absenteeism is not markedly higher than the OECD average, and that according to an OECD report, France spends more than the EU average per student for upper secondary schools, the students protesting now, but acknowledges that France’s school day is both long and convoluted.

The Guardian notes that while France’s class size average is not much higher than the OECD average, 29 to 26, it varies significantly between rural and urban areas, where in the latter, class sizes can reach as high as 36.

Children of the revolution

Le Monde notes that in many cases, the protests have been largely peaceful, and well supported not just by affected students but also by teachers and unions

Some students from a private school turned out to protest in solidarity, with one sign reading “Private and public, all children of the Republic.”

Teachers have also joined the protest, one teacher interviewed said it was their responsibility as teachers to “make sure we protect them [the students].”

Another remarked that he wanted to show that there was a “peaceful way to support their legitimate demands”, after he had suggested that some of the violence was caused by students copying violent acts seen on social media, and trying to outdo them.

Teachers also have a stake in the protests; trouble with retention and absenteeism is linked to their low pay.

In one case, a parent said that he was attending in place of his child, as he feared for his child's safety, and that they had compromised by exchanging places.

Local political figures have also participated, with a mayor of a Paris suburb, Bally Bagayoko, shown trying to stand in between protesters and riot police.

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A post shared by Gabriele Vilardi (@gabriele_vilardi)

Violence in the streets

But not all protesters have been peaceful.

The Telegraph reports an incident where a woman was first shoved against a bus stop, then had fire sprayed at her using an aerosol can and a lighter, resulting in first-degree burns.

The assailant has reportedly been arrested.

The Telegraph also reports that protesters have lost sympathy after that and similar incidents, with videos showing protesters assaulting an unconscious police officer and teachers outside of school.

There has also been a fair amount of disinformation, with a video of a burning bus in a southern French city being deceptively labelled as from the current round of protests, when it was simply an engine fire that took place in 2023, as reported by AFP via Yahoo.

Protesters blocking schools and universities have been met with riot police armed with batons as well as tear gas and stun grenades.

Images of the protest show protesters setting up flaming barricades, made up of dustbins and bicycles, while arson attacks have also been carried out against schools.

Tear gas and grenades

One incident saw a 15-year-old lose a hand to a grenade.

It is not yet known if he had been struck by the grenade or if he had picked it up, although The Guardian reports that his mother claims he had not picked it up.

France’s interior minister, Laurent Nuñez, said that the use of such grenades was temporarily suspended but defended police tactics, saying that officers did not intervene when protests were peaceful.

He also reported that 761 police officers had been wounded in the protests, while 215 teenagers and 89 school staff had been injured.

Le Monde reports student protesters denying initiating violence against the police, with a group in Rennes saying that riot police had arrived suddenly and “tear-gassed everyone.”

The protesters held a sign saying “Old enough to be tear-gassed but not to protest.”

Fiscal trouble and budget cuts

With many of the students involved in the protests likely too young to vote, it remains to be seen how it will affect France’s political dynamic.

The current French President Emmanuel Macron is term-limited, and elections to replace him are just over half a year away in April 2027.

Euronews reports that France’s borrowing costs have hit their highest levels since 2002 and its government debt is reaching 119 per cent of GDP.

It appears that the government has decided that cutting spending, except for interest and defence, is the way out of its current troubles, but the government holds a minority of seats in the French parliament, meaning that it cannot guarantee its solution will be supported.

This also means that the changes students, and some teachers, are demanding will have trouble finding funding in an environment where France is looking to slash government budgets.

Elections in April

This dire outlook has allowed formerly fringe politicians to come to the fore.

Some might be aware of far-right Marine Le Pen, who is all but certain to reach the second round of the presidential election, as she is polling at around 33 per cent support, according to Reuters.

Far-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon, is in second place, expected to attain at least 17 per cent of first-round votes, although polling suggests he will be roundly beaten by Le Pen in the second round.

An op-ed in The Guardian says that Mélenchon is a natural repository for the votes of the disaffected youth and those who share their sentiments.

In fact, the mayor who put himself between police and protesters is from Mélenchon’s party, La France Insoumise (LFI).

But The Guardian op-ed notes that Mélenchon’s Achilles' heel appears to be his foreign policy, described as pro-Russian, anti-NATO, anti-European Union, and near indistinguishable from that of Le Pen.

In previous elections, French presidents like Macron and Jacque Chirac have managed to hold off far-right challenges by assembling a left-centre coalition, as left-leaning voters held their noses and voted for the least undesirable of two options in the second round.

But given a choice between the two extremes, there is no recent precedent for how elections will go.