Police have arrested thousands of young people in France during protests demanding better school funding. A 15-year-old lost a hand to a stun grenade. The Interior Ministry has suspended the use of the stun grenade model involved. An officer who fired a gas grenade at a 14-year-old whose jaw was shattered faces charges of violent mutilation. Critics say police tactics have been excessively violent, politicizing young protesters. The protests started in mid-September, with many teens experiencing police crowd-control methods and arrests for the first time. The government defends police actions as necessary to combat rioting.

Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi has been detained by police during a protest against the country's election chief. Opposition parties are intensifying their campaign over a contentious revision of voter lists. Gandhi and other lawmakers were stopped as they marched toward a protest site in New Delhi. The opposition demands the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, accusing the commission of manipulating voter registrations to benefit Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party. Critics also say the revision process risks excluding millions of eligible voters. The commission and Modi's party deny these allegations.

Thousands of Brazilian students have marched in Rio de Janeiro against the possibility of Flávio Bolsonaro winning the presidency. The protest on Wednesday came after Bolsonaro received more votes than incumbent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in the first round of Brazil’s presidential election. Demonstrators dressed in red chanted and held signs about Brazil’s sovereignty and democracy. Neither candidate received more than 50% of the vote. That means there will be a runoff between Bolsonaro and Lula on Oct. 25. Many people fear that a Bolsonaro presidency could align Brazil with the United States because of the family's ties with U.S. President Donald Trump. Protesters emphasized the importance of social movements and resisting Bolsonaro’s potential leadership.

Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has expressed condolences following the reported death of María del Carmen Abascal, the 87-year-old woman whose eviction sparked nationwide protests. Maricarmen, as she was known, had been hospitalized after being carried out on a stretcher from her home of seven decades. Her case has drawn tens of thousands of people to the streets in outrage. The prime minister called for early elections after failing to pass measures to address the country’s housing crisis.