An investigation is launched into the violent arrest of black youth in Quebec City

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The Quebec City police department announced Saturday night that it was opening an investigation into the violent arrest of two young black men.

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Video of the incident, in which a man is seen kneeling one of the youths and an officer is seen pushing snow into the face of a young man while he is on the ground being arrested, had previously been posted on social media.

In a statement, the SPVQ said that it had learned of the videos that were circulating about an intervention that took place on the night of November 26-27 and the behavior of the agents in question “is of great concern to the management” of the police force.

“As soon as it became aware, the SPVQ consulted the videos in question and took steps to take all necessary measures,” the statement said. The police force is still trying to confirm the identity of the officers in the video and has not yet released any information about the incident.

On Saturday night, Quebec City Mayor Bruno Marchand said on Twitter that he was “concerned about the images” he had seen and promised to shed light on these events.

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The incident also prompted comments from provincial politicians.

“I thought the images were extremely disturbing, extremely disturbing,” Liberal leader Dominique Anglade said on the closing day of the convention. “Honestly, I had to look at it two, three times. I really don’t understand what happened. “

Anglade said the incident “raises many questions”, requiring an independent public investigation into the incident.

“The scenes I saw were absolutely unacceptable,” added the Liberal MNA for the conduction of Viau Franz Benjamin. “I was happy to see the first reaction from the mayor of Quebec City. But beyond that, we are talking about the training and competence of the police ”.

In a video posted on Facebook , professional boxer Eric Martel-Bahoéli said he trains one of the young men in the video, a minor, at the Nordik Boxe Club.

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The former Canadian heavyweight champion called the behavior of one of the officers in the video “disgusting and disgusting.”

“First, I was very surprised to see the young man I knew and I was stunned, completely shocked, to see the act of the police officer,” Martel-Bahoéli told La Presse Canadienne in reference to a part of the video in which an officer pushes snow on the face of a young man who is being held by his companions.

“It does not make any sense. It’s a boy, it’s a young man! It is unacceptable with an adult, but here it is also a minor, he added. “He is clearly immobilized with his arms behind his back.”

Martel-Bahoéli said that this type of incident only serves to fuel tensions between police officers and the black community, or indigenous peoples.

“There are no black cops in Quebec City,” he says. “It’s not normal in 2021 when you look at Quebec City and you look at the police department, which is supposed to be representative of the population, and there are no black police officers in Quebec City.”

With files from Philip Authier.