Footage has surfaced of a black man being repeatedly beaten by police as he tried to enter a music studio in Paris’s 17th arrondissement. Michel, was as he put it walking along without a face mask, which is against health regulations. He then went into the music studio after seeing a police car.

He said the police followed him inside the studio, and then physically and racially attacked him.

Michel’s lawyer, Hafida El Ali, said: “He asked them what they wanted, if they wanted to check his identity… They didn’t stop beating him, the video of the violence lasts for 12 minutes.”

El Ali said that nine others who were recording music in the studio basement were also beaten.

Michel told the media that “now that the truth is out”. 

“I want to understand why I have been assaulted by people who were wearing a police uniform. I want justice, because I believe in the justice of my country,” he said.

The timing of this attack couldn’t be more apt as concern are growing over a new French bill that would criminalise publishing images of police “with intent to harm”. The bill has caused protest from journalist and civil liberties groups.