A producer beaten up in Paris: an open investigation, three police officers suspended
The French music producer, identified only as Michel, speaking to media outside the IGPN (General Inspectorate of the French National Police) as he arrives to file a complaint after being repeatedly beaten by the police.
AFP - AURORE MESENGE
Text by: RFI Follow
5 mins
Three police officers were suspended from their duties on Thursday, November 26 after the beating of a music producer, documented by a video widely distributed on social networks.
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In the midst of the controversy over the right to film the
police
in operation and
the muscular evacuation of a migrant camp
in Paris, a new case of police violence broke out this Thursday in France after the publication of a
video of the Loopsider information site
.
The images are of rare violence.
They show in particular a black man called "Michel" beaten by three police officers in the entrance of a music studio in the 17th arrondissement of the capital.
"
I have been told dirty nigger several times and punching me,
" he denounced, coming to file a complaint with his lawyer at the Paris headquarters of the General Inspectorate of the National Police (IGPN).
"
People who have to protect me attack me (...) I did nothing to deserve that
", he continued to the press, "
I just want these three people to be punished by the law
" .
As soon as the images were broadcast on social networks, Gérald Darmanin asked the Paris police chief Didier Lallement to suspend the police officers concerned.
In a rare public statement, the Paris prosecutor Rémy Heitz wanted the IGPN, seized of the file, to investigate "
as quickly as possible
".
"
It is an extremely important matter in my eyes and that I have been following personally since Saturday,
" he told AFP.
Shots and tear gas canister
According to their minutes consulted by AFP, the three police officers intervened last Saturday to try to arrest "Michel" for failing to wear a mask.
"
As we try to intercept him, he forcibly drags us into the building,
" they write.
But the images of the video surveillance of the music studio, also consulted by AFP, reveal a very different scenario.
The three police officers are seen entering the studio, grabbing the man and then punching, kicking or baton him.
In their report, the police wrote that the man had beaten them.
According to these same images, “
Michel
” resists by refusing to let himself be taken on board, then tries to protect his face and body.
But he doesn't seem to be striking.
The scene lasts five minutes.
Secondly, people who were in the basement of the studio manage to reach the entrance, causing the police to withdraw outside and close the studio door.
The police then try to force the door and throw a tear gas canister inside the studio.
Following this arrest, the man was initially taken into custody as part of an investigation for "
violence against a person holding public authority
" and "
rebellion
".
But the Paris prosecutor's office closed this investigation and opened a new procedure on Tuesday, this time for "
violence by persons holding public authority
" and "
forgery in public writing
".
Asked by AFP, the Defender of Rights said she also opened an investigation into the violence suffered by "Michel".
"
If we did not have the videos, my client might be currently in prison,
" Me Hafida El Ali, lawyer for "Michel" told AFP.
His client benefits from a total incapacity for work (ITT) of six days.
"Unsustainable aggression"
"
On these images, it is not a republican police force but a barbarian militia out of control
", denounced on Twitter Jean-Luc Mélenchon (LFI).
“
Prefect Lallement must leave.
The police must be taken back in hand.
"
Through Michel's unbearable aggression (...) it is our humanity that is being affected
", for his part tweeted Christophe Castaner, boss of LaREM deputies and former Minister of the Interior.
“
Zero tolerance against racism and against this violence, which have no place in our Republic
”.
My France hurts!
@GDarmanin https://t.co/78HRfoyqhA
- Antoine Griezmann (@AntoGriezmann) November 26, 2020
The star striker of the French football team Antoine Griezmann tweeted Thursday "
I hurt my France
", joining the excitement caused by this beating filmed of a black music producer by police in Paris.
Griezmann's tweet, which mentions Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin, follows those of his teammate in the France and FC Barcelona team Samuel Umtiti and international Espoirs Jules Koundé, both stepped up after the broadcast. viral by the Loopsider media of the video of this attack.
Following the recent violence that marred the action of the police, the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin will be heard on Monday by the Laws Commission of the National Assembly.
(With
AFP
)
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