Video of police beating Black man in Paris fuels debate of filming officers

Video of police officers beating a Black man in Paris caused an outcry in France on Thursday, fueling criticism of a new bill that would place restrictions on sharing footage of security forces as French authorities grapple with long-standing accusations of police racism and brutality.

The beating, on Saturday, only came to light because of a graphic video posted Thursday on social media by Loopsider, a French digital news outlet. By

Thursday evening, it had been viewed more than 8 million times — days after video of police forcefully clearing migrants from a protest camp in Paris sparked a similar outcry.

Prosecutors in Paris have opened an investigation into the beating, and the officers involved have been suspended. The police in Paris also said that an internal inquiry had been opened.

The beaten man, Michel Zecler, a music producer, told Loopsider that he had been approaching his recording studio Saturday evening when he spotted a police car on a side street in the 17th Arrondissement, an upscale residential area of northwestern Paris.

Fearing a fine because he was not wearing a mask, which is mandatory in France because of the coronavirus pandemic, Zecler said he quickly entered the studio. Three police officers exited the car and followed him inside.

Security camera footage obtained by Loopsider shows that a scuffle began when Zecler resisted the officers as they grabbed him. The officers pummeled him repeatedly over several minutes, using their fists and feet, as well as a police baton. Zecler said that the officers also had insulted him and used a racial slur against him.

Alerted by the commotion and Zecler’s cries for help, a group of young artists who had been attending a recording session in the studio’s basement came upstairs and managed to push the police out the door, just as reinforcements were arriving.

The police tried to force their way back into the studio, according to videos filmed by neighbors and obtained by Loopsider, before throwing a tear-gas canister through the window, which quickly filled the small enclosed entrance with gas.

“’It’s my last day and I don’t know why,’” Zecler said he was thinking at the time, telling Loopsider that the beating left bruises across his body, a torn tendon and a head wound.

Several officers pointed firearms toward the entrance. Zecler came out and was arrested, as were the nine young men from the recording studio, who told Loopsider that they were also held at gunpoint and hit by officers. The nine men were released the same day without charge.

Zecler was held for 48 hours, accused of violence against the police and resisting arrest, but the Paris prosecutor’s office dropped the charges.

Speaking to reporters in Paris on Thursday, Zecler said the incident had left him feeling fearful.

“The people who are supposed to protect me are holding me at gunpoint,” he said, adding that many police officers “did their work well” and that he felt lucky the incident had been caught on video.

“I would like that it never happen again, for anyone,” he said. “Camera or no camera.”

Hafida El Ali, Zecler’s lawyer, told reporters that he was “lucky to have these videos” showing acts of police violence that are “isolated” but “exist.”

“If we didn’t have that, unfortunately, he would obviously be detained,” El Ali told reporters in Paris after having filed a formal complaint against the officers. “Because it’s his word against the word of the police officers, and we know perfectly well that it’s the police officers that would win.”