Doctors have amputated the testicle of a young man who was beaten by a policeman with a baton during a massive demonstration in Paris, and he plans to file a lawsuit, the newspaper reported.LiberationFrench daily about the young man in a report published, Sunday.
The incident occurred during a wave of violence that followed a rally last Thursday, attended by tens of thousands of people opposed to the government’s highly contested pension reform plan.
About a million people demonstrated in cities across France that day.
The 26-year-old, who was identified by French newspapers as an engineer, said that an officer knocked him to the ground while he was taking pictures during a confrontation between some demonstrators and the police.
Another officer attacked him and quickly pushed the baton between the young man’s thighs.
A video of the incident circulated on social media and French television over the weekend.
Paris, demonstration against pension reform
A Spanish photographer is knocked down on a charge by the police and receives a blow while he is on the ground…
This is a crime against freedom of speech in the heart of Europe!#greve19janvier #Marche21Janvier #greve31janvier pic.twitter.com/RPqEwGocUZ– Debbie_banks (@Debbie_banks30) January 21, 2023
Paris police chief Laurent Nunez ordered an investigation into the exact circumstances of the incident, as anger mounted over what appeared to be a new case of unprovoked police violence, a long-running complaint, according to the Associated Press.
Liberation said the injured man was named Evan S., and he told the newspaper that he would file a lawsuit until this violence stopped, adding, “I am not the first person to be subjected to violence by the police.”
French media quoted Ivan as saying that Lucy Simon, the lawyer representing him, said she had filed a lawsuit for “violence committed by a person in power that led to the mutilation of his genitals.”
For his part, Olivier Veran, a spokesman for the French government, said in an interview, Sunday, on the French TV station “BFM” that he had not seen the investigations of the police or judicial institutions, but he expressed his sympathy for the injured.
French law enforcement agencies have long been accused of excessive use of force, according to the Associated Press.
Music producer Henri Ziegler was clubbed by three policemen in 2020 as he left his studio in Paris, spurring limited reforms that included the appointment of a judge last year to head a unit investigating allegations of police abuse.