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From: TT
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Photo: Thibault Camus / AP / T
Four policemen are being investigated for the crimes following the beating of Michel Zecler, who was interviewed outside the hospital where he was treated on Thursday. The incident has sparked major protests in France.
The Paris chief prosecutor announced Sunday that he wanted to prosecute the four police officers suspected of beating a black music producer. Three of them will remain in detention.
The four policemen were arrested after a video was posted online showing how they brutally beat a black man, Michel Zecler, at his music studio in Paris. The police are also accused of using racist insults during the beatings.
When the attorney general held a press conference on Sunday, he reported that he wants to prosecute the four for interference. Police are suspected of a number of crimes including both beating and lying about the course of events before the movie clip was released.
The prosecutor wants three of those involved in the attack to be detained during the investigation, to avoid contact between them. The fourth, who later arrived at the scene and fired a tear gas grenade, will be suspended from his post but released pending trial.
The incident has sparked strong reactions in France, where the government wants to push through a security law that is feared will make it illegal to broadcast images of police officers on duty. According to critics, the movie clip with the assault could be illegal to distribute under the new law.
Hundreds of thousands of people demonstrated yesterday in France for freedom of expression and against police violence. Most of the demonstrations were quiet, but violence broke out in connection with the demonstration in Paris, where, among other things, an AFP photographer was taken to hospital after he was beaten by French police.
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