Paris police officers suspended after beating

Eight French police officers have been suspended for their suspected role in the beating of a young man in a Paris suburb, a national police spokeswoman said today.

Two of the police officers were suspected of dealing “unwarranted blows” to the man in La Courneuve, one of the difficult suburbs where unrest has broken out recently, said national police spokeswoman Catherine Casteran.

In a statement, the Interior Ministry said the six others were suspected witnesses of the November 7 incident.

The victim had “superficial lesions” on the forehead and the right foot, it said.

La Courneuve is in the Seine-Saint-Denis region, where unrest started two weeks ago, sparked by the accidental deaths of two teenagers.