Story By: Joseph Golder, Sub Editor: Alex Cope, Agency: CEN

Video Credit: CEN/Revolution Permanente

This is the moment French cops beat up a black man in the foyer of his apartment building after he came down from his flat after hearing the commotion from a Yellow Vests protest.

A student who filmed the incident was quoted in local media as saying that the black man was beaten up allegedly by members of the feared Brigade Anti-Criminalite in civilian clothing despite showing them his ID and the keys to his flat.

The footage, shot in the heart of French capital Paris in the 13th Arrondissement next to the La Pitie Salpetriere hospital shows the commotion outside as a Yellow Vests protest.

Pictures Credit: CEN/Revolution Permanente

We then see an unnamed black man being attacked by police officers with truncheons who run into the building where he lives after he reportedly came downstairs to see what was happening.

The footage, filmed by an unnamed student, has been widely shared on social media and local media have embedded it from Revolution Permanente, a self-professed independent news organisation.

They accompanied the video with a statement from the person who filmed it, which has been widely reported in local media.

The person recording said that they could “see in their eyes that the cops were preparing to be violent” as everybody fled when the officers charged.

Pictures Credit: CEN & CEN/@nejeh.benfarhat

The statement went on to say the cops caught the black man “who had the misfortune of being in the wrong place at the wrong time (like me) or of being black,” adding the victim had not “crossed a roadblock” but “just did not get away in time when the cops came charging”. 

The statement went on: “He fled into the building and the cops pursued him. The young man then entered my building to take refuge and protect himself from the police violence, but the guys of the BAC managed to enter too and they beat him with truncheons before trying to take him away.”

Video Credit: CEN/@nejeh.benfarhat

The person recording said the man managed to escape by running up the stairs and added: “I suggested that he should stay at my place and wait for the BAC to leave because he did not dare go down to reach his flat. I was very scared when the cops rushed us. But I tell myself that it was not much, compared to all those who end up disfigured or with a hand missing, simply because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

An internal affairs investigation has reportedly been launched into this latest incident. It is headed by the ‘Inspection generale de la Police nationale’ (IGPN; the “police des polices”).

Netizens, in the meantime, have overwhelmingly reacted with outrage.

One, called ‘Claudio Franchini’, said: “They look more and more like the Nazis.”

Another, called ‘Lou Seipher’, added: “Just like in the good old days of the Gestapo! A good way to ‘train’ young people… […]”