A 15-year-old boy has been arrested after a disturbing video appeared to show a masked attacker blasting flames into a woman’s face during violent student protests in Marseille, France.
The attack happened Friday as demonstrations over school conditions continued to spread across the country.
Video from the scene shows a hooded and masked person standing near a bus shelter before apparently using an aerosol can and a lighter as an improvised flamethrower.
A burst of fire shoots directly toward a woman’s face at close range.
The woman suffered first-degree burns and was treated by emergency crews at the scene, according to French media reports.
Police later arrested a 15-year-old boy in connection with the attack.
Authorities have not publicly identified the teenager because of his age.
The Marseille incident came amid a rapidly growing protest movement involving high school students across France.
Students have been demonstrating over a range of complaints, including deteriorating school buildings, teacher shortages, overcrowded classrooms and other concerns about the country’s education system.
What began as demonstrations over school conditions has increasingly been accompanied by clashes, fires and vandalism in several cities.
In Marseille, protesters have blocked schools, set objects on fire and confronted police.
Similar scenes have unfolded elsewhere in France, including Strasbourg, Rennes and communities around Paris.
French authorities say thousands of people have been detained since the unrest escalated.
Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said more than 5,000 arrests had been made by the end of the week, with many of those detained believed to be minors.
Hundreds of schools have also been affected.
France’s Education Ministry said roughly 400 to 500 high schools were expected to be fully or partially closed or disrupted as authorities attempted to deal with the unrest.
Education Minister Édouard Geffray has acknowledged that the students’ original concerns about public education were legitimate while strongly condemning the violence that has followed.
He has accused outside political and extremist groups of exploiting parts of the movement, an allegation disputed by some opposition figures and protest supporters.
“For a week now, unspeakable violence has struck our schools,” Geffray said in a social media statement.
He said schools had been vandalized and set on fire and that education employees had also been targeted.
The government has faced the difficult task of responding to the students’ underlying complaints while attempting to stop the growing violence.
Reuters reported that demonstrators have demanded better school facilities, additional staffing and increased education funding.
The unrest has also included serious confrontations between protesters and police, with officers using tear gas in some cities and demonstrators accused of throwing projectiles and setting fires.
The attack on the woman in Marseille has become one of the most widely circulated images from the unrest.
Although footage of the incident has spread rapidly online, authorities have not released a detailed account explaining what led up to the confrontation or whether the woman and the accused teenager had interacted beforehand.
The 15-year-old remains accused in connection with the attack, and any criminal allegations against him will ultimately have to be resolved through France’s juvenile justice system.
Meanwhile, demonstrations are expected to continue as students press the government for changes to the country’s schools and authorities try to prevent further violence.
The leaders are getting what they wanted
France!!!🇫🇷
The mayhem there is now as bad as our own ghetto cities.
And for the same reasons….stupid liberal white people allowed it to happen..