The four police officers were arrested after a video was released online showing how they brutally beat a black man, Michel Zecler, in his music studio in Paris.

Police are also accused of using racist insults during the beatings.

When Chief Prosecutor Remy Heitz held a press conference on Sunday, he informed that he wants to prosecute all four for the interference.

The police are suspected of a number of crimes that include both the beating itself and having lied about the course of events before the film clip was published.

Detained under investigation

The prosecutor wants three of those involved in the assault to be detained during the investigation, to prevent contact between them.

The fourth, who arrived at the scene later and fired a tear gas grenade, will be suspended from his post but will be set free pending trial.

Aroused strong reactions

The incident has provoked strong reactions in France, where the government wants to push through a security law that is feared to make it illegal to spread images of police officers on duty.

According to critics, the film clip with the assault could be illegal to distribute under the new law.

Hundreds of thousands of people demonstrated across France yesterday for freedom of expression and against police violence.

Most of the demonstrations were calm, but violence broke out in connection with the demonstration in Paris, where, among other things, an AFP photographer was taken to hospital after he was beaten by French police.