Police Accused of Intimidation After Racist Arrest Video Surfaces in Seine-Saint-Denis

The lawyer for the plaintiffs denounces "anxiety and anguish prejudice". "My clients are indeed victims. They were scared to death when they filmed this video; and since then, they have suffered significant anxiety and anguish prejudice," says Arié Alimi. The two men who filmed the racist arrest claim to have seen a police car pass by their home insistently. According to their lawyer, the controversy sparked by the release of the video of the arrest would be the source of the pressure they are facing.

On his Twitter account, Taha Bouhafs, a journalist for the website Là-bas si j’y suis, had posted the video of a scene that took place after the arrest of the suspect. "A nigger like that, he doesn’t swim. [...] Ha ha, he’s sinking, you should have tied a weight to his foot," can be heard. This will be followed by a chorus of laughter.

This video sparked many reactions. For the Minister of the Interior, Christophe Castaner, it is a "legitimate outrage". He also promised to "shed full light" on this affair. "Racism has no place in the republican police," he had hammered in a tweet.