United Nations human rights experts have condemned the “excessive use of force” by French authorities against nationwide student protests, warning that mass arrests, detentions, and serious injuries were deterring demonstrators from exercising their fundamental rights.

“The scale of the arrests and detention, affecting several thousand people, mainly minors, appears disproportionate and deters demonstrators from exercising their freedoms of expression and peaceful assembly,” four experts mandated by the UN Human Rights Council said in a statement on Wednesday.

The experts, including Gina Romero, special rapporteur on the freedom of peaceful assembly, and Farida Shaheed, the UN expert on cultural rights, also criticized the government's security-focused response, saying it had sidelined the underlying causes of the unrest.

“Although authorities launched several initiatives to facilitate dialogue and respond to students’ demands in October, the priority given to a primarily security-focused response to the protests has led to the root causes of the mobilization being sidelined,” they said.

The demonstrations, which began in mid-September, were initially driven by complaints about deteriorating school buildings, overcrowded classrooms, and teacher shortages. They subsequently expanded to encompass broader grievances over the rising cost of living, with riots and looting occurring on the sidelines of nationwide protests.

On Saturday, French authorities deployed 70,000 security personnel and arrested 1,000 people during demonstrations that attracted 410,000 protesters nationwide, according to the interior ministry.

A week earlier, public buildings were vandalized, hundreds of businesses were looted, and 2,700 people arrested. Interior Minister Laurent Nunez vowed to be “extremely vigilant, extremely firm” in containing further unrest.

Alice Cohen-Morzadec, a spokesperson for the Union Etudiante, a French federation of local student unions classified on the left of the political spectrum, told Al Jazeera that the demonstrations reflected widespread resentment towards the government.

“What we are seeing right now is a general outburst of resentment against [French President Emmanuel] Macron and his policies that have destroyed our rights, destroyed our living conditions,” she said.

Analysts have attributed the government's difficulties in meeting students' demands to a severe fiscal crisis and planned budget cuts that have reduced France's education budget.

UN raises alarm over injuries

The experts also condemned serious injuries sustained by underage demonstrators during police operations.

In one incident, a teenager in the northern city of Lille lost a hand when a grenade exploded during clashes between school protesters and the police.

“The serious and, in some cases, irreversible injuries sustained by underage demonstrators during law enforcement operations are unacceptable and unjustifiable,” the rapporteurs said.

They reiterated calls for French authorities to conduct a comprehensive review of policing strategies and practices to protect demonstrators' rights and facilitate peaceful resolutions to social conflicts.

The experts said they were in contact with French authorities over the issue.