Police Abuse in La Courneuve

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This happened a week ago, but the video – which initially appeared on France Channel 2 – was unavailable until now. (It “mysteriously” did not appear on channel 2’s online archive.)

Briefly, this is what the voice-over says:
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“In La Courneuve Monday evening (Nov. 7th), a young man was released from police custody where he had been held for willfully damaging property. The police jumped on him, through him to the ground; two of them hit him again and again. In all, eight police officers were involved. The young man received several cuts on his face and his feet. He is picked up, handcuffed, and taken back to the police station.”

Please click here to view the video!
(this is a link offsite – if it does not work please email me so i can upload the video myself…)

La Courneuve is, incidentally, the suburb which Sarkozy said he would clean "with Karcher" (a heavy duty cleaning product).

The police obviously had no idea they were being filmed, and when the video was aired last week all eight ended were initially suspended. On Friday five of eight cops were brought to court - the three others were released. Of these five, four were released on their own recognizance while one was kept in custody over the weekend.

This caused the police and the far-right to freak out. The Alliance 93 police union issued a call for police to only provide the minimum of service as an on-the-job protest. And Saturday. Philippe de Villiers (far-right leader who is trying to replace Le Pen in this regard) declared his personal solidarity with the police, and denounced the “violently outrageous penalties” imposed on the police shown in the video.

On Saturday, the victim of this police attack was once again arrested again, accused of throwing rocks at firefighters. And today the cop who had been held over he weekend was released. Police justice yet again…

Other news:

• According to an Ifop survey carried out for the Journal du dimanche, Nicolas Sarkozy and Dominique Villepin are the two public figures that ‘people trust the most to solve the problems in the suburbs.’ According to the same poll, President Jacques Chirac received a 29% approval rating, whereas far-right Natinoal Front leader Jean-Marie Le Pen received a 24% confidence rating.


• Muhttin Altun, the third young person who entered into the electrical substation in Clichy-sous-Bois, told an investigating judge on Thursday that the police did indeed chase them, according to one of his lawyers.


• Minister of the Interior Nicolas Sarkozy was forced to run away from angry youths in central Paris, on his first public outing since the rebellion began over two weeks ago. According to the Telegraph Sarkozy “came under a vicious verbal assault from youngsters on Saturday night. The former protégé of President Jacques Chirac was forced to listen to chants of "Sarkozy resign!", "Liberté, egalité, fraternité - but not in council estates", and several insults directed at his mother. He ducked into his car, but dozens of youths then rushed past the police and chased his motorcade towards the Arc de Triomphe.”

Categories: france, media, police, repression, riot, video