According to a video posted on social media on Sunday, April 26, police are accused of having made racist and offensive remarks. The police prefecture seized the General Inspectorate of the National Police (IGPN).

On these images published on the Twitter account of Taha Bouhafs, journalist for the site Over There if I am there, police officers filmed after an arrest make racist comments against a suspect described as "bicot". The scene clearly takes place at night and on Île-Saint-Denis, in Seine-Saint-Denis (a Parisian suburb).

"A bicot like that doesn't swim," we hear. "Haha it is flowing, you should have hung a ball on his foot," he added, suggesting that the agents took the suspect out of the waters of the nearby Seine. In other images, we hear the policemen laughing and muffled noises coming from the police van where the arrested, who seems to be screaming, was placed.

🔴 GLACING

IN L'ile-Saint-Denis very early this morning (1h43), during an arrest of the police, a man who threw himself into the Seine to flee from them, I let you discover the following: pic.twitter .com / vcqepo7NNZ

- Taha Bouhafs (@T_Bouhafs) April 26, 2020

Initiation of an investigation

After the images were broadcast, the police prefecture said it had seized the IGPN. "A video showing a police intervention on Île-Saint-Denis is circulating on social networks. The police prefect will seize the IGPN to shed light on the circumstances in which the police intervened and determine the identity of the authors of the words heard, "she said. According to the police headquarters, the officials were involved in a meeting robbery.

Interior Minister Christophe Castaner reacted on Twitter: "A video showing a police intervention in the Île-Saint-Denis sector is arousing legitimate indignation. All the light will be shed," he said. he assured, adding that the IGPN was "seized. Racism has no place in the republican police."

A video showing a police intervention in the Île-Saint-Denis sector arouses legitimate indignation.
All the light will be made. The IGPN is seized.
Racism has no place in the Republican police.

- Christophe Castaner (@CCastaner) April 26, 2020

According to the first elements obtained, "the man was taken to the hospital after his fall in the Seine", declared the public prosecutor of Nanterre, Catherine Denis, according to which no complaint was for the moment filed. According to the magistrate, the police officers of the intervention would not belong to the police station of Villeneuve-la-Garenne as the video affirms it, but would nevertheless depend on the Territorial Directorate of proximity security of Hauts-de-Seine.

MP La France insoumise de Seine-Saint-Denis Éric Coquerel denounced a video described as "unacceptable". "I do not know what the latter did, I do know that on October 17, 1961, the bodies of Algerians drowned by the police were found on these same banks. Hear today such racist remarks and behavior by the part of police officers is a shame and a great concern ", lambasted Éric Coquerel.

With AFP

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