Seized by Christophe Castaner, the Paris prosecutor's office opened an investigation on Friday into racist messages posted on Facebook and attributed to the police, after revelations from the news site Streetpress. On this group of nearly 8,000 members, one can read comments that are often racist, sexist and homophobic.

The revelations have caused outrage, as the issue of police violence is back in the news, between demonstrations in the United States after the death of George Floyd and rally Tuesday in France on the initiative of relatives of Adama Traoré. Friday, seized by Christophe Castaner, the Paris prosecutor's office opened a preliminary investigation into racist messages published in a Facebook group and attributed to the police, for "public insult of a racist nature" and "public provocation to racial hatred ", after an article from the Streetpress news  site .

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The group is called "TN Rabio Police Officiel". Still active, it has nearly 8,000 members of the police. To access this discussion group, members are supposed to justify their registration number, their promotion to the police or gendarmerie school.

The singer Camélia Jordana targeted

Officially, it is a space for information, debates on public security and the work of the police. But in reality, the participants publish articles, react to news stories, with vulgar, often racist, sexist and homophobic remarks. StreetPress reveals numerous screenshots on which we read comments, full of spelling mistakes, about illegal immigrants, blacks, or even followers of the urban rodeo. Insults against the singer Camélia Jordana, who recently denounced the police violence, are also written. 

[STREETPRESS INFO] - In a private FB group, reserved for the FDO and which has more than 8000 members, police officers exchange hundreds of racist and sexist messages

We present to you these vile facts of #RacismDansLaPolice in article + video ⤵️
https: //t.co/R2h25E0EqS

- StreetPress (@streetpress) June 4, 2020

These exchanges will now be studied by the courts. Christophe Castaner promised a sanction for "each fault, each excess, each word, including racist expressions" within the police.