Video: French police attack on black man that left Macron “in shock”

France has been shaken by a new case of police violence. A group of agents assaulted black music producer Michel Zecler at the entrance of a music studio in Paris. Images of the attack were recorded by multiple security cameras and then released via social media.

After the viralization of the images initially published by the portal Loopsider, this Friday, November 27, the office of the French president Emmanuel Macron indicated that the president is “in shock “by the video. This affair shook the government and reopened the debate on police violence at a sensitive time for the French authorities.

The incident happened on Saturday, November 21. According to the minutes consulted by the agency AFP, the three agents caught Zecler’s attention because he was not wearing a mask. “When we tried to intercept him, he forced us into the building“they wrote.

In the footage from the security cameras, the three police officers are seen entering the office grabbing the man, then hit him, hit him and hit him with the police baton The producer resists being taken away and then tries to protect his face and body. Then the police try to force open the door and throw a tear gas canister into the studio.

Zecler was initially detained for “violence against the person holding public authority” and “rebellion”. But the Paris prosecutor’s office put the investigation aside and opened a new procedure on Tuesday November 24 for “violence by persons holding public authority“And” lies in public acts “.

They called me a shit nigga many times while they beat me, Zecler said

“They called me many times nigga shit while they beat me up», Declared the victim, who lodged a complaint at the Paris headquarters of the General Inspectorate of the National Police (IGPN).

“People who have to protect themselves attack me (…), I did nothing to deserve that “, he lamented during an interview by the media.” I just want the law to punish these three people, “he said. added.

The government’s reaction

On Thursday, November 26, Macron met the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin, who asked him to take sanctions against the police officers in question, as indicated in AFP government sources. At the end of this meeting, the French official announced the suspension of the four agents involved in the case.

Initially, three officers were suspended. Then a fourth was also punished, who arrived as reinforcement and who is suspected of having thrown the tear gas canister into the music studio. Darmanin, who will appear next Monday, November 30, before the National Assembly (Parliament) Law Committee, said on state television that these policemen had “tarnished the uniform of the Republic”.

“If we hadn’t had the videos, my client might be in prison right now,” Zecler’s lawyer Hafida El Ali told the same agency. The music producer received six days sick leave after the brutal attack.

If we hadn’t had the videos, my client could be in jail right now, the lawyer said.

This case occurs in the midst of a debate on the controversial “Global Security” bill, which represses and penalizes the dissemination of images of police officers during their speeches. The text, which was adopted Tuesday by the National Assembly and must be examined by the Senate, has sparked a heated debate in recent days in France.

Article 24 of the draft liable to one year in prison and a fine of 45,000 euros ($ 53,600) dissemination of the “facial image or any other identifying element” of members of the police in action, when it “pays attention” to their “physical or psychological integrity”.

Aggression Comes When Controversial Global Security Bill Is Debated in France

If the police unions, the right and the extreme right approve it, the left and the defenders of public freedoms see in the said law a “disproportionate offense” to the freedom to inform and sign of the authoritarian drift of the Macron presidency.

The Prime Minister, Jean Castex, announced yesterday the creation of an “independent commission charged with proposing a new wording” of the article, which it intends to submit to the verdict of the Constitutional Council.

BDN / FeL