[ad_1]
- Investigations against four policemen were opened Monday night in France for an attack on a black music producer.
- This is reported by the AFP agency, citing the judicial authorities.
- The brutal police operation in Paris had caused outrage and protests across the country in recent days.
A video posted Thursday shows police officers attacking a music producer at the entrance to his production studio. Music producer Michel Z. can be seen walking in front of the house without donning the required mask. Three policemen see him, Michel Z. retires to the study, the policemen follow him. There was a fight, the police gave the man at least two dozen punches and kicks with his feet. A little later, a tear gas canister flies into the studio.
Michel Z. has filed a complaint with the police and told reporters his vision of things in front of the police station: “I didn’t even realize that the men were policemen. They beat me and insulted me repeatedly like black. “
Two policemen in custody
Three of the officials are accused, among other things, of racist violence by officials, breaking and entering and falsifying documents. The fourth official is accused of violence by officials and damage to property, the AFP news agency learned in judicial circles. Consequently, two policemen were arrested, the others were released and are under judicial supervision.
French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin had called for the police to be fired if the allegations were confirmed. They had “stained the uniform of the Republic.” Now he is supposed to testify himself on the incidents under mounting political pressure in the National Assembly on Monday. Darmanin and President Emmanuel Macron condemned the violence on Twitter as unacceptable.
The attack on the music producer is the second case of police violence that caused horror and criticism in France last week. Videos of a brutal evacuation of a makeshift tent camp by migrants circulated last Monday on the Place der la République in Paris. Investigations are ongoing here too.
More than 100,000 people took to the streets in France over the weekend to protest against police violence and a controversial law to protect the police. Especially in Paris and in the Breton city of Rennes there were riots and clashes between protesters and the police.
The aforementioned incidents of police violence have fueled the already heated debate over the envisaged security law in France. According to the government, the law should better protect the police. Particularly controversial is an article that criminalizes the publication of photographs of security agents in action if it is done with the aim of injuring the physical or mental integrity of the police officers. The House of Commons has already approved the bill, now it’s up to the Senate.
During protests in France, police sometimes used batons and tear gas against protesters.
Keystone
