Paris (AFP)
A judicial investigation was opened Sunday after the dissemination of videos showing a man with a bloody face being hit on the ground by a police officer during his arrest on the sidelines of the demonstration of "yellow vests" on Saturday, AFP learned from the prosecution from Paris.
The investigation of the prosecution was opened for "willful violence by a person holding public authority" and entrusted to the IGPN, the police force.
"The prefect of police asked the directorate of public order and traffic (DOPC) to shed light on this action," the prefecture of police told AFP.
An "internal administrative investigation has been entrusted to the evaluation and control service" in order "to shed light on this action", she added.
On the images broadcast on social networks, the protester is lying on the ground in front of the armory of the Gare de l'Est, his face bloodied, when the policeman who maintains him strikes him with at least two punches.
On another angle of the scene, filmed by AFPTV around 2:30 p.m., the man, lying on his stomach and already handcuffed, screams in pain when the policeman presses his knee on his arm.
Thousands of demonstrators marched on Saturday afternoon in Paris, at the call of the "yellow vests", chanting anti-Macron, anti-police or anti-pension slogans.
A total of 60 people were arrested, including 45 placed in police custody, according to the authorities, during this rally marked by tensions with the police, said an AFP journalist.
These new investigations, judicial and administrative, are opened while the executive has changed your tone in the face of police violence.
On Tuesday, the President of the Republic put pressure on the Interior Ministry by demanding "quick" proposals to improve the ethics "of the police.
Last week, the Minister of the Interior Christophe Castaner had devoted a good part of his wishes to the National Police to the duty of "exemplarity" and to ethics.
Statements that pointed at police under pressure after months of demonstrations and the movement of "yellow vests", interspersed with numerous violence.
In Paris, at least three judicial investigations were opened for police violence committed on January 9 during the demonstration against the pension reform, including a LBD shot at close range.
On December 6, another investigation was launched on the basis of videos showing two police officers hitting a person on the ground during the demonstration the day before against this reform.
© 2020 AFP