(CNN) -
Several French police officers were suspended Thursday after video emerged of them beating a black man in Paris.
French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said he personally ordered the suspensions after the Loopsider news website posted the security camera footage.
Video from Saturday shows the man, identified by his lawyer as Michel Zecler, being beaten by officers.
"These images are indescribable, extremely shocking and as soon as I heard about them and what happened, I called for the suspension of those policemen," Darmanin said in a televised speech Thursday night.
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"As soon as the facts are confirmed by justice, since it is under investigation, I will ask for the dismissal of those policemen," he added.
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Loopsider posted an interview with an anonymous man with facial injuries who he said was the victim of the beating.
"At that moment, I was afraid, I said to myself that maybe this is my last day, that's what I thought, it's my last day and I don't know why," he said in the video.
Reuters reported that the man told reporters that he was walking near his studio without a face mask, a violation of French rules against COVID-19.
He said he broke into the study when he saw the police officers to avoid a fine.
The man said the officers then physically beat him and racially abused him.
The Paris Police Prefecture said in a statement on Thursday that the French internal police investigation body was asked to investigate the incident, adding that it asked the director general of the National Police to suspend the police officers involved as a precaution.
CNN could not immediately determine who represented the suspended officers.
The incident comes amid protests against police brutality in France and just days after another video of police violence shocked the French public.
That video was filmed Monday during an operation to dismantle a migrant camp in central Paris.
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Darmanin then tweeted that "some images of the dismantling of the illegal immigrant camp" were "shocking."
He later stated that he had also asked the French internal police investigation body to investigate the operation.
Claire Hédon, France's ombudsman for civil liberties, announced Tuesday that she will also investigate the police actions.
The Paris prosecutor's office has told CNN that it opened investigations into the migrant camp incident and the beating.
Two separate investigations were launched on Tuesday related to the dismantling of the camp, one related to acts allegedly committed against a migrant and the other related to acts of violence committed against a journalist, the prosecutor's office said.
The latest incidents reignited controversy over the Global Security Bill, passed by the French National Assembly on Tuesday.
The widely criticized bill prohibits the publication of images that allow the identification of a law enforcement officer "with the intention of causing them harm, physically or mentally."
The restrictions, which have yet to be approved by the Senate, sparked protests from civil liberties organizations and journalists.
Christophe Deloire, Secretary General of Reporters Without Borders, tweeted on Thursday that he had met with French Prime Minister Jean Castex to discuss the law and announced the upcoming creation of an independent commission to rule on it.
