This photo was taken at a protest in Paris on Thursday. Photographer Jan Schmidt-Whitley managed to capture the moment a police officer with the Compagnies Républicaines de Sécurité (CRS) kicked a student protester during a demonstration.
"The protesters gathered on Thursday were mainly students marching against a newly enacted labor law in France. The protesters were mostly students who believe the new law will get in the way of them finding jobs after college."
Tamara, the young woman in the photo, is a 24-year-old theater student at a Paris conservatory.
She told BuzzFeed News that she wasn't actually a protester and was just sitting at a nearby cafe.
"The students eventually charged after being blocked for 40 minutes by the CRS," she said. "[The police] launched their tear gas without thinking about the people on the terrace."
Tamara said she yelled at the officers, saying they were attacking everyone indiscriminately. That's when the officer kicked her.
When Schmidt-Whitley shared the photo on Facebook, it quickly went viral. Users were horrified.
The hashtag #PoseTonCRS, or "pose your CRS," went viral on Twitter in response. As a form of protest, people started photoshopping the cop in the picture into different memes.
Florilège de détournements par @JulesLmeghribi et @SxNkTT
They put the officer in other protests, like the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Allez on fait tomber ce mur #PoseTonCRS
As well as famous paintings.
Allez, un petit #PoseTonCRS viteuf'
Il ose vraiment tout ce CRS #PoseTonCRS #NuitDebout
They also put the images into the video game Streets of Fury, which is pretty appropriate, to be honest.
#PoseTonCRS Streets of fury @Benzaie_tgwtg
But things also got sort of out of control.
#PoseTonCRS au parc le mercredi après-midi.
Une idée parmi d'autres #PoseTonCRS
#poseTonCRS Réalisation @MystereMcKay
#PoseTonCRS tatatintiiiiin
Like really out of control.
#PoseTonCRS
#PoseTonCRS #RetirezMoiPhotoshop
#PoseTonCRS
En fait il donnait juste n coup de main. #PoseTonCRS #RetirezMoiPhotoshop
" #PoseTonCRS sur la vague métaphysique" Bodhi dans Point Break
"It's crazy, just a little beyond me, I admit," Schmidt-Whitley told BuzzFeed News. He described the protest as "savage" and said that at the time the photo was taken, the police had surrounded the protesters.
Mon humble participation à #PoseTonCRS
As for Tamara — the woman kicked in the original photo — she said that she actually didn't end up going to the hospital.
"Firefighters came an hour later," she said. "I had a stomachache, but I refused to go to the hospital because I had to take an important test that afternoon."
Tamara said this isn't the first time something like this has happened and it's not the first time it's been captured on camera, but she's optimistic about the response it got on social media and hopes it will prevent police brutality in the future.
"This is not the first time we've seen videos of them hitting kids," she said. "More complaints will make a difference."