A woman who was filmed by French police being attacked by her brother in her own car on a Paris street has said she was terrified and had to be helped to the hospital.
A man had also been injured by the car’s front-end force during the assault.
In a video posted online, a man can be seen approaching the victim and then punching her twice in the face.
The attack occurred just after 6am on Monday at the corner of Rue de la Chapelle and Place de la Bastille.
The video, which has been viewed more than 7 million times on Facebook, has provoked a huge backlash and led to an investigation into the behaviour of the police officers involved.
The woman was taken to a hospital to have her nose broken by a paramedic after being hit by the attacker.
She was released hours later.
In the video, the woman can be heard screaming for help, but her voice is barely audible.
“I am afraid, my nose is broken,” she said.
“He is hitting me, I can’t breathe.
I’m terrified.”
Police have not said what prompted the assault, but the video has caused a massive social media backlash.
In it, the man is seen punching the woman repeatedly.
She can be clearly heard screaming: “Help me, help me, my head hurts.”
The video has sparked outrage online, with one commentator calling it “the biggest disgrace of a police officer”.
The video went viral on Monday, with people calling for the woman’s assailant to be prosecuted.
One woman, whose name was not revealed, said she felt “disgusted” with the police and was shocked by the attack.
“My mother is an ambulance driver and I have been working for her for four years,” the woman said.
Police say they were investigating whether a video or a photograph of the incident was doctored.
The man was taken into custody by police on Tuesday.
The incident comes as France grapples with a spike in anti-Muslim violence, with a record number of attacks against people suspected of being Muslims on the country’s streets and in the streets.
France has seen a string of violent attacks since the November 2015 attacks on the Paris satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and Jewish grocery store in which 12 people were killed.