Video of producer beaten up by police in Paris is controversial

It's an uplifting, nearly 10-minute video, posted Thursday morning by online media Loopsider.

In these images, we see a music producer being violently hit by the police during an arrest in Paris.

The man, who is called "Michel", gave his testimony on this scene which happened last Saturday at the entrance of a recording studio in the 17th arrondissement of the capital.

The video, widely distributed on social networks, quickly aroused the indignation of many Internet users. 

An investigation by the Paris prosecutor's office for "violence" and "forgery in public writing" was opened, while the Minister of the Interior Gerald Darmanin requested the suspension of the police.

This case comes in the midst of a controversy over a bill that regulates the dissemination of images of the police in operation and after the muscular evacuation, Monday, of a migrant camp in the heart of the capital.

It happened on Saturday in Paris.

15 minutes of racist beatings and insults.

The crazy scene of police violence that we reveal is simply amazing and uplifting.

We have to look at it to the end to understand the full extent of the problem.

pic.twitter.com/vV00dOtmsg

- Loopsider (@Loopsidernews) November 26, 2020

The police version contradicted by the images

According to their report consulted by AFP, the police tried to arrest the man named "Michel" for not wearing a mask.

"As we try to intercept him, he forcibly drags us into the building," they write.

On CCTV footage from this studio, also viewed by AFP, 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 several times 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.

He does not appear to be striking.

The wrestling scene lasts five minutes.

According to "Michel", the police have repeatedly called him a "dirty nigger". 

A tear gas canister thrown in the studio 

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, which smokes the room.

Other images unveiled by Loopsider and shot by residents show the police officers pointing their weapons in the street and telling "Michel" to leave the studio.

Following this arrest, the man was initially placed in police custody as part of an investigation opened by the Paris prosecutor's office for "violence against a person holding public authority" and "rebellion".

Towards a suspension of the police officers involved 

But the Paris prosecutor's office closed this investigation and opened a new procedure on Tuesday for "violence by persons holding public authority" and "forgery in public writing", entrusted to the General Inspectorate of the National Police (IGPN), the font font.

"I ask the police chief to suspend the police officers concerned as a precaution," Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said on Twitter on Thursday, hoping that "the disciplinary procedure can be conducted as soon as possible".

[Intervention in Paris 17th district]

I am pleased that the IGPN was seized by justice on Tuesday.

I ask the police chief to suspend the police officers concerned as a precaution.

I hope that the disciplinary procedure can be conducted as soon as possible.

- Gérald DARMANIN (@GDarmanin) November 26, 2020

The Paris police chief said he had asked the Director General of the National Police "to suspend the police officers involved as a precaution".

"My client was in custody for 48 hours unjustifiably on false words from the police services which outrageously assaulted him," denounced Michel's lawyer, Me Hafida El Ali.

"If we didn't have the videos, my client might be in prison right now," she told AFP.