This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

A man has been detained on suspicion of assaulting a 22-year-old student who released a video of an attack outside a Paris cafe last month that went viral online.

Surveillance footage of the incident shows a man hurling an ashtray at Marie Laguerre outside the cafe, allegedly after she told him to “shut up” for making lewd comments. The man then hits Laguerre in the face.

A police source said the suspect was detained on Monday as he was leaving a psychiatric hospital, on suspicion of assault and sexual harassment. Laguerre was due to identify whether she believed he was the attacker or not.

She wrote on Facebook last month that she was returning home when a man started using “dirty language, in a humiliating and provocative manner”. She said: “I told him to shut up and kept walking away, because I can’t stand this kind of behaviour. I can’t keep quiet, and we mustn’t keep quiet any longer.”

The assault happened “in the middle of the street and in broad daylight, in front of dozens of witnesses”.

Laguerre set up a website called Nous Toutes Harcelement – meaning “we are all harassed” – after the incident, to collect similar stories after receiving messages of support from around the world.

French politicians passed a new law against sexist violence this month, which made catcalling in the street a crime punishable with on-the-spot fines. The law covers behaviour including comments on a woman’s looks or clothing, catcalling, intrusive questions, unwanted following and upskirting – the taking of surreptitious, sexually intrusive photographs.