France's IGPN internal police disciplinary body will investigate the actions of police officers who allegedly used racist remarks during an arrest of a man in the Ile-Saint-Denis area near Paris, Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said on Monday
Moscow (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 27th April, 2020) France's IGPN internal police disciplinary body will investigate the actions of police officers who allegedly used racist remarks during an arrest of a man in the Ile-Saint-Denis area near Paris, Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said on Monday.
On Saturday night, a group of police officers apprehended a man who had jumped into the River Seine in an attempt to escape arrest. The incident was recorded online and went viral over social media. The footage shows that during the arrest, the police officer made a derogatory remark about the arrestee, who was of Arab or North African descent.
"A video showing a police intervention in the sector of Ile-Saint-Denis has led to legitimate indignation. All light will be shed on the matter. The IGPN has been alerted. Racism has no place in the Republican police force," Castaner said.
The Villeneuve-la-Garenne, a commune of Seine-Saint-Denis district, where the incident took place, is known to be the poorest and one of the most restless in France. Notably, strict lockdown restrictions introduced by the French government to curb the spread of the COVID-19 disease have triggered unrest in Paris' low-income suburbs.
