France protests: man lost testicle after clashes with police – lawyer - The Guardian

Doctors had to amputate the testicle of a young antheral who got clubbed successful the groin by a constabulary serviceman during demonstrations successful Paris past week, according the man’s lawyer.

Images and footage from Thursday’s demonstrations circulating online amusement a policeman hitting a antheral connected the crushed betwixt the legs, and past leaving. The antheral is seen holding a camera.

The incidental occurred during a surge of unit astatine a mostly peaceful march attended by tens of thousands of radical opposed to the government’s program to rise the property of retirement. About 1 cardinal radical marched successful cities crossed France connected Thursday.

The 26-year-old, identified successful the French property arsenic an engineer, said helium was knocked to the ground, allegedly by an officer, portion taking photos during a confrontation betwixt demonstrators and police. Another serviceman charged astatine him and allegedly planted his nine successful the man’s groin.

Lawyer Lucie Simon said she was filing a ailment connected behalf of her lawsuit for “voluntary unit that led to mutilation by a idiosyncratic vested with nationalist authority”.

“It was specified a beardown stroke that helium had to person a testicle amputated,” she said, adding that the technologist was inactive successful hospital.

“This is not a lawsuit of self-defence oregon necessity. The impervious is successful the images we person and the information that helium was past not arrested.”

The engineer, who lives connected the French Caribbean land of Guadeloupe, “is inactive successful daze and keeps asking why” helium was wounded, the lawyer added.

Paris Police Chief Laurent Nunez ordered an enquiry into the nonstop circumstances of the incidental arsenic outrage grew implicit what appeared to beryllium a lawsuit of excessive unit from French police, a longstanding complaint.

The antheral told the Libération paper helium was suing “so that this stops, due to the fact that I’m not the archetypal idiosyncratic to beryllium subjected to unit by police.”

Government spokesperson Olivier Veran told a section broadcaster that helium felt “empathy” for the young man.

But helium stressed “the request to recognize the conditions successful which this involution occurred”.

The interior ministry said 80,000 radical marched successful Paris connected Thursday, arsenic portion of nationwide protests against President Emmanuel Macron’s program to widen the status property from 62 to 64.

The hard-left CGT national nevertheless said it counted 400,000 protesters successful the French capital.

French instrumentality enforcement agencies person agelong been peppered with excessive usage of unit complaints. Police unions contend their members often are the victims of unit committed by immoderate radical they are meant to protect.

The 2020 beating and clubbing by 3 constabulary officers of a Black euphony producer, Michel Zecler, arsenic helium near his Paris workplace was a catalyst for constricted reforms. The astir caller alteration was the assignment past twelvemonth of a magistrate to caput a portion that investigates allegations of constabulary abuse. Police officers antecedently led the unit.

French President Emmanuel Macron ordered changes successful 2021, saying that “we person thing to fearfulness from greater transparency.”

That aforesaid year, French lawmakers passed a “global security” instrumentality reinforcing definite instrumentality enforcement powers. The astir arguable article, which initially constricted video oregon different images of information officers, was watered down to marque it a transgression to place information officers “with the manifest extremity of attacking their carnal oregon intelligence integrity.”

Agence France-Presse and Associated Press contributed to this article