The French presidency said today that President Emmanuel Macron is "very shocked" by the pictures that showed members of the Paris police beating and insulting a black-skinned music product, and the incident - which took place last Saturday - sparked a great controversy in France.
A source in the French government stated that President Macron held talks with Interior Minister Gerald Darmanan on Thursday to call for punishment of the police officers who were involved in beating music producer Michel Zilker, and the French Interior Minister said in a televised statement yesterday that he would punish the police officers if the allegations of their verbal and actual assault on Zilker, and a court ruling was issued against them.
Authorities suspended 4 policemen from work on suspicion of being involved in beating Zilker in the incident, which was filmed by surveillance cameras and a mobile phone camera.
DOCUMENT: la séquence intégrale des 13 minutes de l'agression policière contre un producteur de musique parisien.
Attention: images difficiles de violences et d'insultes racistes.
pic.twitter.com/37EbfgID2T
- Loopsider (@Loopsidernews) November 26, 2020
Zilker appeared in the footage - published by the website of "Loopsider" magazine - being beaten by the police at the entrance to a music studio in the 17th district in Paris. The victim - who filed a complaint with the headquarters of the Inspector General of the National Police - stated that "they told me that Many times: a filthy nigger, and they punch me. "
The rationale for the incident
The French Press Agency quoted the report of the incident that 3 members of the Paris police intervened last Saturday to try to arrest Zilker because he was not wearing a muzzle in application of measures to confront the Coronavirus pandemic, and they said, "While we were trying to intercept him, he dragged us into the building."
And in the CCTV footage from the studio, police officers are shown entering the studio, holding the man and then punching him, kicking him or hitting him with a baton.
The complainant stated that he was walking in the street without a muzzle, and when he saw a police car, he entered the nearby studio to avoid the fine, but the police tracked him inside, and proceeded to beat him and assault him with racist words.
In the footage, he watches the music producer fight his arrest, then tries to protect his face and body.
The shot lasted 5 minutes, and the police tried to forcibly open the door of the studio, and a fourth policeman threw a tear gas canister inside it.
Michel was beaten by three police officers last Saturday in Paris.
Then they falsely accused him of wanting to take their weapons and rebel.
But the police were not aware of one thing: everything was filmed. #ViolencesPolicieres is second on Twitter in France. #French_products30 https://t.co/uicdtrx0R6
- Ahmed Al-Qari (@ahmed_badda) November 26, 2020
Police account
"Lobster" magazine quoted the police as saying that Michel - whose photos showed him severely injured in the accident - was violent.
"Thankfully we have this video," said Michel Zilker, a lawyer.
According to the police officers' official version, the music producer tried to assault them, and had a weapon in their faces, which was denied by the CCTV recordings.
French politicians and athletes condemned the police assault on the music producer, and said that had it not been for filming the incident, not everyone knew what had happened. Football star Kylian Mbappe said it was "an intolerable video clip" and "unacceptable violence."
His colleague Antoine Griezmann said, "I am sad for my country, France."
The incident comes at a time when the French Parliament is considering a bill that has been met with widespread criticism, and that the bill would limit the right of people to film policemen in video clips, and the National Assembly (the lower chamber of parliament) approved the bill, and it is now before the Senate.