23 January 2023 , 13:03
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Doctors amputated the testicle of a young man who got clubbed in the groin by a police officer during a protests in Paris.
The gruesome incident happened during a spurt of violence at a mostly peaceful march Thursday which saw tens of thousands of people taking to the streets to oppose a controversial government pension reform plan.
About one million people marched in cities around France that day.
The victim, a 26-year-old engineer, told French newspaper Liberation that he was knocked to the ground by an officer while taking photos during clashes between demonstrators and police.
Another riot cop charged at him, swiftly cracking down his baton into the man's groin, he claims.
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Liberation identified the injured man as Ivan S. and said he told the newspaper he was suing "so that this stops, because I'm not the first person to be subjected to violence by police".
Video of the incident circulated on social media and French television over the weekend.
Paris Police Chief Laurent Nunez ordered an inquiry into the exact circumstances of the incident as outrage grew over what appeared to be a new case of alleged gratuitous violence by French police, a longstanding complaint.
Lucie Simon, a lawyer representing him, said a lawsuit for "voluntary violence by a person in authority leading to mutilation" already was in progress, French media quoted her as saying.
Protesters clash with cops during the rally in Paris on January 19 (AFP via Getty Images)French government spokesman Olivier Veran said in an interview Sunday on French all-news station BFM TV that he was neither part of the police or judicial establishments, but "my thoughts are obviously with this person."
French law enforcement agencies have long been peppered with excessive use of force complaints.
Police unions contend their members often are the victims of violence committed by some people they are meant to protect.
The 2020 beating and clubbing by three police officers of a Black music producer, Michel Zecler, as he left his Paris studio was a catalyst for limited reforms.
The most recent change was the appointment last year of a magistrate to head a unit that investigates allegations of police abuse.
The streets of France are ablaze as rioters protest planned pension age reforms (Getty Images)Police officers previously led the unit.
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French President Emmanuel Macron ordered changes in 2021, saying that "we have nothing to fear from greater transparency."
That same year, French lawmakers passed a "global security" law reinforcing certain law enforcement powers.
The most controversial article, which initially limited video or other images of security officers, was watered down to make it a crime to identify security officers "with the manifest goal of attacking their physical or psychological integrity."