Four French police officials
on Monday have been charged in connection with the beating and racial abuse of
a black man in Paris, while two of them were taken in custody, reported AFP.

An investigating magistrate from
Paris charged all four officers with ‘intentional violence by a person holding
public authority’ while three of them are also charged with ‘fabricating the
police statement’.

Two of the four accused, including
the most senior officer, will remain behind bars while the other two were freed
on conditional release, a judicial source told AFP on the condition of anonymity.

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The development comes in the
heels of nationwide outrage against the abusive power and racial brutality by
the police that has ramped up pressure on the President Emmanuel Macron led
government.

The murder of a music composer Michel Zecler by the French police, exposed
in a video footage came not long after the world witnessed the ghastly racial
killing of George Floyd in US, which has time and gain prompted debates on the
police of institutionalised racism and brutality.

This whole act was followed by the introduction of a new security law by
the French government, Article 24, which prohibits people to circulate images
of police personnel. Although it has only been approved by the National
Assembly previous week, the Senate approval still awaits.

According to AFP, this new security law, restricting the right of the press
to publish images of on-duty police will be go through a keen scrutiny by a Parliamentary
commission which is set to question French Interior Minister, Gerald Darmanin, on
Monday evening.

Ever since the introduction of the bill, french people are protesting
against the article which they believe curbs their basic rights and freedom,
i.e. Freedom of the press, Freedom to inform and be informed and Freedom of
expression

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The protests in Paris saw a brassiere set alight, cars torched and stones
thrown at security forces, who responded with tear gas and anti-riot tactics.

Among those hurt was an award-winning Syrian photojournalist, Ameer al-Halbi,
24, seen with a bruised face and much of his head covered in bandages in AFP
photos.