African student who revealed racist audio recording of police arrested again in France

By Alaattin Dogru and Nur Asena Erturk

ANKARA (AA) - A 23-year-old Chadian student who revealed an audio recording last month of racist comments by French police officers was arrested again, local media reported Sunday.

Souleyman Adoum was arrested by French police Friday evening during a protest in Paris against the government’s pension reforms, broadcaster BFMTV reported.

According to the report, Adoum was arrested for being near two other people who attempted to set fire to a trash can.

The three men were placed in police custody.

Adoum was previously arrested on March 20 during a protest in Paris against pension reform and was treated harshly by police.

In the audio recording of his arrest, which was shared by French media on March 24, members of a police unit can be heard picking on Adoum, who had accused them of slapping him.

The officers made sexually explicit and racist comments while one of them told a protester that they better watch out or the next time they would have to take "a thing called an ambulance to go to the hospital."

"I would gladly have broken your legs," one of the officers was heard saying in the recording.

Adoum was later released without any charges.

Following a complaint lodged by Adoum, France's General Inspectorate of the National Police (IGPN) launched an investigation into the matter.

The Motorized Brigades for the Repression of Violent Action (BRAV-M) are a police unit that has stirred controversy over allegations of its involvement in racism, violence and arbitrary acts of aggression.

French politicians signed a petition in March calling for the unit to be dissolved.

Paris police chief Laurent Nunez, however, said the unit’s dissolution was not on the agenda.