Three police officers who were filmed beating a black music producer in Paris during a violent arrest have been put under formal investigation, ratcheting up pressure on the government to backtrack on a draft law that would restrict the right to publish images of security forces in action.
Prosector Rémy Heitz on Sunday said the officers would be transferred to criminal court and held in custody while the investigation continued into the alleged assault of Michel Zecler at his music studio on November 21.
The incident was publicised by online media outlet Loopsider on Thursday in the same week that the French parliament was debating a new “general security” law proposed by President Emmanuel Macron’s government.